Together
by NamelesslyNightlock
Summary: Katniss never left Peeta in the Quell. They both made it back to 13. But without Peeta, who will the Capitol use to break Katniss? How does Peeta's presence change everything? MJ never happened. PeetaxKatniss
1. Dead

**Disclaimer: I wish, but ****I don't own the Hunger Games.**

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**Chapter One**

Dead

"I want to go with them as a guard." Peeta's voice is determined: he's less willing than ever to let me out of his sight after the moment with the pearl. And to be perfectly honest, I don't want to leave him either. Not here, in the arena, where Brutus or Enobaria could get him. Even Finnick could easily turn around and literally stab him in the back.

"You're too slow. Besides, I need you this end. Katniss will guard." says Beetee. "There's no time to discuss this. I'm sorry. If the girls are to get out of there alive, they need to move now."

"Why can't Finnick go with Johanna? He can run faster than me." I pause, trying to think of another good reason without breaking the alliance. "And I can use my bow to guard here. I won't be able to use it properly if I am hanging on to the wire at the same time." Peeta nods vigorously, egging me on.

"Katniss and I have been working together for a while now, we do better together. And Finnick and Johanna know each other well, too."

"They have a point, Beetee." Purrs Finnick. "It's OK, we'll just drop the coil and come back up. Katniss is right; I can run faster than her, and we are more likely to meet Brutus and Enobaria down on the beach. Come on Johanna." The two of them run off, before Beetee can object further, Johanna looking happier about tis pairing than the previous one. I turn to Beetee.

"Right, what do you want us to do?"

"You and Peeta just stand on either side of the tree, and if you see Enobaria or Brutus, shoot. I need to concentrate, so I don't want a big fight down below distracting me." I roll my eyes, and he grins, then clambers up the tree.

The Arena is silent for a while, except for the clicking coming from the eleven to twelve o'clock wedge. Then, I heard a faint _snick!_ Followed by a whirring noise, that sounded faintly metallic. Then Beetee gasped.

"No! They must know our plan!"

When the whirring stoped Beetee slid down the tree, and scooped up a branch from the ground. Then he turned to me.

"I'm sorry Katniss." Then he swung the branch around, and I felt a blast of pain on the side of my head. I wasn't quite unconscious; I couldn't move, but I could hear Peeta's yell, and saw him fall next to me.

_No, no, no, no, no. How could this be happening? Beetee? _He was the only tribute besides Peeta that I trusted even the tiniest amount_. _I became aware that Beetee had pulled out a knife. He lifted it, and then brought it down into my arm, digging through the flesh. I tried to scream, but my voice didn't respond. Then Beetee turned to Peeta. A cannon fired.

"_No!" _The thought of Beetee's knife plunging to Peeta's heart, of Peeta lying there, the life leaving his body, was enough to wake me out of my stupor. I swung my arm around, catching Beetee in the shoulder. He gasped, then stood up, brandishing his bloodied knife.

"Katniss! It's not what you think!" I grabbed my bow, but my arm was too weak to pull on the string. Then I saw the sight of a person standing behind Beetee, a person much more terrifying. Brutus.

"_It's not what you think Katniss,_ _Trust me! I'm only going to rip out your heart, but don't worry, it's for your own good!_" Whined Brutus, mimicking Beetee's tone. "Purr-lease. I've had enough of this nonsense. Lets get this done!" He took a step towards me, raising his sword. "Got any last words, Girl on Fire? What about you, Volts?" I just stared at him, terrified. So this was how it was going to end. I could kill him now if Beetee hadn't injured my arm! Brutus grinned, just as three metal spikes poked out of his chest. He looked down in astonishment then crumpled to the ground. Standing in his place was Finnick, clutching his arm. A second cannon fired.

I turned my attention back to Beetee. Unable to use the bow, I punched him in the face with my good arm. He fell, unconscious. I was about to grab his knife to finish him off, when a low moan came from behind me. I turned, expecting, I don't know, Enobaria or one of those monkeys. But instead, I saw Peeta.

"Peeta! Peeta, are you OK?" he muttered something, but it was so low I couldn't hear him. "What did you say? Peeta!"

"I said, That's a stupid question. Does it look like I'm ok?" I look him over again. A heap of blood on his head, from where Beetee hit him, A deep gash in his arm. Extremely pale from loss of blood, and still not quite recovered from his encounter with the force field.

"No, I guess not." He smiled. I heard a rustling, so I turned away from Peeta, in case Beetee was waking back up. All I saw was Finnick wrapping the severed wire around Beetee's knife. Why was he doing that? The lightning might strike any second!

I sigh. If Finnick dies, that's one less tribute to get out of Peeta's way.

Suddenly, there is a huge crash, and the area filled with light. The lightening. I look away from Finnick, not wanting to see another person die. I have seen way to much death.

As I turn my head, I feel something whoosh past my face. I don't believe it! Finnick is about to die, and so he's thrown the knife at me, to kill me too. I know I want Peeta to survive, but it would be better if I stayed alive for a little longer. Finnick was going to die anyway, why take another person down with him?

My thoughts are interrupted as I get thrown backwards, away from the force field that is located near the tree. I manage to wrap my arms around Peeta so we stay together and so we are not separated by the blast. I lie on my back, Peeta groaning on top of me, and I see something I never thought I would. Or could. A hover craft was floating above me, a metal claw descending into the arena. But how? They couldn't take me, I was still alive. They couldn't take Finnick, as Peeta and I were still in the picture. But the claw wasn't going for Finnick. It was aiming at Peeta and me.

I tried to get up, to force myself to run, but I couldn't. The gash in my arm, the throbbing in my head, and the weight of Peeta's body against my chest were stopping my ability to move. I felt the claw wrap around the two of us and lift us off the ground. Well, at least we got to be together when we died.

As we flew through the air, carried by the metal claw, I could feel the blood seeping out of my arm and I knew that I was in trouble. I glanced at Peeta and saw that he was in the same boat.

Then we were in the hovercraft, and I saw a man standing over me. Plutarch Heavensbee. The Head Gamemaker. He leant over and pulled Peeta off me. I tried to hold him to my body, but I was now so weak I couldn't do anything. As I tried to struggle, I realized that I wasn't just weak; I couldn't move at all. I must be in shock or something. Once Peeta is off me, Plutarch leans over me and does the worst possible thing. He closes my eyes.

Maybe I am dead.


	2. Hovercraft

**Disclaimer: Sometimes, I wish I could be a good writer and get some stories pblished. But right now, I am working off anothers ideas. I don't own the Hunger Games.  
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**Chapter 2**

Hovercraft

First I am aware of a beeping noise. Won't it stop! It's incredibly annoying.

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

I squeeze my eyes tighter.

_Beep._

Geeze, can't I even get a decent sleep! I'll have to get up and find whatever it is. Who ever's on watch should have gotten rid of it already. I'll do them in. Unless it's Peeta. I'd just glare at him. Finnick… Maybe I'd yell. Johanna, I'd get annoyed. And yell.

I smile. It's nice to be able to think like this in the Arena.

The Arena!

I sit up with a jolt, expecting to fin Brutus and Enobaria smirking down at me, swords in hand.

_Beep._

That noise! It seems to getting more frequent. It's frightening. In fact, the faster it beeps, the faster my heart races. I take a couple of deep breaths, and survey my surroundings.

The room is white. White walls, white sheets, white pillow, white bed. Bed? I'm in a bed! I must be in a hospital! I look to my side. Sure enough, the beeping is coming from a machine with a wiggly green line running on it. My heartbeat.

Then the memories flow back into my head. The cut in my arm. The lightning. The Explosion. Beetee. Finnick getting electrocuted. Peeta… I force myself not to think of it. Then another face enters my mind. Plutarch. I'm in a Capitol hovercraft.

I hop out of bed, and grab a couple of needles from the table next to my bed. I recognise it as morphling; too much of it will kill you. Silly, really, to leave it lying around.

I know what the Capitol does. They torture the people they capture. I saw them do it to Cinna.

I must not let them torture Peeta. My whole purpose for quite a while has been keeping Peeta alive. Now I just want him not to suffer.

I gather up the needles and creep out of the hospital, passing Beetee.

I'm not wasting any morphling on him. He can die painfully. He's the reason Peeta and I are in this situation.

I steal down a corridor, and stand outside a door. I can hear people talking. I recognise some of the voices: Plutarch, Haymitch, Finnick. Why is Haymitch here? And didn't Finnick die? The Capitol must be playing tricks on my mind already. I am about to go back to my search for Peeta when I hear the voice that makes me stop. It's _his_. And he's in pain.

"Why won't you let me see her?"

"She's in pain. She needs to rest."

Oh, so now they are keeping me away from him, are they? Well, that won't last long.

I creep into the room and see four men sitting around a table. None of them are looking at me. I take a few steps forward then stub my toe on something on the ground.

_Damn!_ All four of them turn their heads to face me. Three of those faces look up at me in surprise. But one in concern. And that is the face that I run to.

"Peeta!" I scream. "Peeta, we have to get out of here!" I hold up the needles, and when he sees them, even more concern springs across his face.

"Katniss. Give those to me." I nod. This is what I want. But when I hand him the needles, he gives them straight to Haymitch.

"No!" I cry. "No, Peeta, they are for you! You can't let them torture you!"

His face now became sad. I hate it. I want to see him smile.

Peeta walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Katniss, these people don't want to hurt us. They rescued us. They are taking us someplace safe." I looked up into those deep blue eyes. I had to believe him. He'd never lie about something this big.

"OK." I whisper. He relaxes, and pulls me tighter.

"Are you alright? Haymitch told me that the explosion had effected you. Your arm has quite a cut on it: Your tracker seems to have been imbedded in deeper than mine. Beetee had to cut deeper."

"What?" Ok, now I am confused. Tracker?

"Beetee didn't cut you just cause he felt like it, Sweetheart," Haymitch laughed. "He was cutting out your tracker."

"Oh." A sense of overwhelming guilt crashed over me. I owed Beetee. "So… How many of us got out. There's me, obviously. Peeta. Finnick. And I saw Beetee in the hospital." I think, wondering who was left. "Hang on, where's Johanna?"

"They got her. The Capitol." I looked around to find out who said that, and I found Finnick.

"What happened?"

Haymitch explained. He told me about how Brutus had cut the wire, then ran up the forest to find Beetee, Peeta and I. He said that on the way up he had run into Chaff, and killed him. How Enobaria had run down and attacked Finnick and Johanna. How Johanna had run off to distract her while Finnick, thinking Chaff's cannon might have been us, ran back up and killed Brutus. How Beetee cut out our trackers so we couldn't be followed when we got onto the hovercraft. And how Finnick had thrown the knife, charged with electricity from the lighting at the force field, destroying it and allowing the hovercraft to pick us up.

When he was done, the room went silent. I decided to ask the next question on my mind.

"Peeta, you said we were going somewhere safe. Where is that? Is it Twelve? No, it isn't is it." I was just thinking that it wasn't because that is where we would be expected to go, but when Peeta's face crumples, I get distressed.

"Why do you think that?"

"Peeta? Peeta, what's happened?"

"Katniss." Peeta stared at my face, the pain clear on his face, in his eyes. What had happened to District Twelve? "Katniss, after we blew up the force field, the Capitol didn't dare blame Finnick. Even though he is clearly against them, they still think they could get him back and keep using him. They blame you and me for destroying the arena and ruining the games." _Oh no. _ They blame us. Whenever they blame someone, they don't punish them directly they punish… but no… "Katniss," Peeta continues, staring into my eyes. "There is no District Twelve."

I let the pain overcome me and I collapse into his arms, sobs racketing from my chest.


	3. Hope

**Disclaim****er: I don't own the Hunger Games!**

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**Chapter 3**

Hope

I sit there and I listen. I listen while Haymitch tells me that the Capitol bombed District Twelve into a pile of ash. I listen while Peeta tells me Gale got my family out safe. Mother, Prim. Gales Family. Hazelle, Rory, Vick, Posy. Greasy Sae and her family. 800 people. _800 people! _How Gale went back to get Madge. How he never came back.

Gale. My Gale. My best friend. How could he leave me?

I sit on Peeta's lap and he holds me, keeping me together. My Gale. Dead. How? How did this happen? Gale, Madge, Peeta's family. Prim's friends. Buttercup. Lady. Gale. All of them gone forever.

Plutarch breaks the silence.

"We're here." I realise that I never found out where 'here' was. All I did was sit here, moping in Peeta's arms. But now, we're 'here', and 'here' was where Prim was. I have to be strong for Prim. I ask where we are.

District Thirteen. The District that was bombed at the end of the Dark Days. It isn't supposed to exist. I don't ask any more.

When we get out of the hovercraft, Peeta stands close beside me, holding my hand. He never leaves me, even when I am greeting my Mother and Prim.

I am grateful.

They give us a few days to ourselves, to recover. Peeta stays with me. I couldn't face the nightmares alone. Prim comes in to try to cheer me up. But even that has little effect.

Until one night.

One night, Peeta and I are lying together, when Prim comes in. She talks to me, tells me some jokes. Peeta laughs with her, and eventually they get me to join in. That is when I realise that I am lucky. My Best Friend may be gone. My home may be gone. But I still have my sister. I still have The Boy With The Bread. Not everybody died. And that is something to be happy about. That brings hope.

But I never truly felt alive until Prim comes in with Haymitch, on the third day since we landed in District Thirteen. Prim has this huge grin on her face. I can't fathom why. Haymitch looks happier than before, but he walks in with a sense of importance. I hop off the bed Peeta and I were sitting on, and take a few steps towards him. Peeta does too, and wraps an arm around my waist.

"What is it Haymitch?"

"Oh, you'll never guess!" Squeals Prim. "It's amazing! A miracle! It's-"

Haymitch shushes her, and then turns to me.

"Katniss, we got a broadcast from the Capitol this morning," he started. "There is a reason we didn't tell you to come and watch it, we didn't want you to get your hopes up, only to see him tortured, or killed, or something…"

"Who?" Peeta's voice is strained, yet some-how eager. I think I have an Idea who he is talking about. I hope. I wish. But I don't want to get my hopes up. But I have to ask.

"Was it… was it…" My voice falters. Peeta rubs my back soothingly.

Prim is just about bouncing of the walls.

"Well…" Begins Haymitch. But Prim stops him.

"Hey! You said I could tell her! You promised!"

"Fine."

"Katniss! You'll never guess!" She says again. I shudder, and close my eyes, pressing my face into Peeta's shirt.

"Come on Prim, get to the point," Mutters Peeta, now stroking my hair.

"Katniss! Katniss! Gale is alive!"


	4. Home

**Sorry about the late update. Busy Christmas, and my sister stole my copy of Mockingjay. -.- **

**Oh well. Should be back on track now.  
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**Disclaimer: I wish. But sadly, I don't own The Hunger Games, or any of it's amazing characters. **

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**Chapter 4**

Home

I look around at the small square of ash, the only thing left of my previous home. Here is where the bed used to sit where I would sleep next to Prim. Here is where the fireplace was. Where Mother skinned the first rabbit I shot after my father died. Where Prim slept with Lady the night after I brought her home.

A small glint attracts my eye, right where Father's mirror used to hang, the mirror Prim would polish every morning. There, in the ash, is a shard of glass. Reflective glass. A piece of mirror. A piece of my life before the Capitol and their Games came and ripped it to shreds.

I crouched on the floor, and felt the pain swoop over me. I had felt pain already today. When we walked past the remains of the Mayor's house, where my friend Madge is almost certainly still sitting, burned to dust by the bombs. The crater that was all that was left of the school. The mass of skeletons in the town square, where people had tried to meet their loved ones. The Skeletons on the road, where people had tried to flee.

I thought I saw the worst of it when we got to the bakery. Seeing Peeta standing there, silent sobs racking through his body as he saw the pile of rubble that was once his home, and the place where he'd found peace decorating the cakes. It made me feel so… helpless. All I could do was wrap my arms around him, trying to comfort him. There was no point in telling him it would be OK. We both knew the truth.

But now… just a tiny shard of my life before this mess was able to wipe even that clean of the slate. Because this didn't just affect me. I had seen all of the rebels in District Thirteen, all trying to win freedom from the Capitol. I had seen the masses of the dead in Twelve. I had seen the starving children. I had seen kids rip each other apart for the Capitol's entertainment, for crying out loud. But it was this small piece of glass that made me realise it.

It took all of two seconds between me curling up on the ground and Peeta placing his arms around me, slowly and carefully. But when I didn't shrug him off, as he seemed to expect, he hugged me fiercely. He didn't say anything. He didn't need too.

After a few minutes we stood back up and walked away from my house. Towards another house. The house that, before the games, had been my second home.

Gales house.

I had wanted to leave this one until last. In fact, I didn't want to be here at all. But Hazelle had wanted me to see if there was anything left. I doubted it, but I had promised. She didn't know this would cause me pain. I don't blame her in the slightest. She is all wrapped up in her own. Her eldest son is in the Capitol.

He isn't dead. We know that much. But I doubt that he is alive either. Just a shell, bashed and broken, lying in the corner of some cell, waiting for the next round of torture.

Maybe it would be better if he was dead.

The way I am feeling now is similar to how I felt back on the hovercraft, when I thought we had been captured by the Capitol.

When I was more than willing to use those needles to end Peeta's life. Because I don't want the people I love to suffer because of me! This whole thing is my fault!

Well, a lot of it is my fault. Gale would not be in the Capitol right now if he had not been my friend. I am sure of that.

I can feel the shakes start to run through me as I start to lose control. I use a technique one of the doctors suggested. I start with the simple things that I know to be true and work towards the most complicated. The list starts to roll in my head...

_My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. So did Peeta. The Capitol hates me. Gale was taken prisoner. He is thought not to be dead. He probably is now though. It is probably best if he is dead..._

Peeta stopped walking. I realized with a jolt that we had reached the spot where the Hawthorne house used to stand. I wonder how Peeta knew where it was. Then I decided that it was not important.

We pick through the ash, looking for something useful. All we find is an old poker. We leave it there - Hazelle would have no need of it in Thirteen. As soon as we have finished, I run back to the Meadow, the spot where I used to play as a child, the spot where Prim and I would sometimes pick dandelions. It seems to have escaped damage: apart from a heap of ash, it is virtually unharmed.

I sat down in the blackened grass and curled up into a ball. I didn't cry. I just let the pain wash over me. After about a minute, Peeta was there. Comforting me. Telling me that we could do something to stop this. That, as the Mockingjay, I might be able to ask District Thirteen to help me out. That I still have Prim, my Mother. There is still hope.

Hang on. Peeta's right. I could help Gale. I am the Mockingjay. I know I have a little bit of leverage, which is better than nothing. Alma Coin, President of District Thirteen and leader of the rebels, did not want me to come back to Twelve. She said that as she had said no to everybody else, she would say no to me. But then Haymitch had said something about 'not getting their Mockingjay angry.' I thought it had just been a reference to my anger management issues, but after that everything seemed to move perfectly. Maybe I had more leverage than I thought.

Peeta's right. I can help Gale. But sitting on the ground is not helping at all.

I stand up with such abruptness that i knock Peeta over completely.

"Sorry, you OK?"

"Fine, fine. Just warn me next time, alright? I never knew my comforting skills were as good as that." He smiled at me, and I grinned back. No idea where all the happiness came from. Maybe I was just relieved at the thought that I might get to _do _ something in the next few days. "Ready to go back?"

In nod at him, and we start to walk back to the town. Once again, I try to ignore the bodies that litter the ground. _I killed you._ I think as I pass a pile. _And you. And you._

Because I did. It was my idea, my hand that held those berries, it was me that escaped the games, that caused the whole county of Panem to fall into chaos. That caused the Capitol to destroy my home.

I quicken my pace, eager now to leave this place, to return to District 13. Even if I am just a number to them, or even the person that could win the war for them, I know that the only way to help Gale is to become the Mockingjay. I am not doing it for the rebels. I am not doing it for myself. If I were doing it for myself I would surely have crawled into a hole and stayed there for the rest of my life. I am doing it to save my best friend.

No, I realized. That is not true. I am not even doing this for Gale. I am becoming the Mockingjay, the face of the rebel forces, the driving force in this war, for Rue. And Foxface. And Thresh. Even Glimmer, Cato and Clove. For all of those 1,800 people that had to go into the games. Yes, that is including the Victors. For no-one escapes the games unscathed.

I am doing this for every child in the districts that has that chance of being thrown into the arena. Prim. Rory. Posy. Vick. Rues younger siblings. For every parent with the fear of losing their child just for some rich crones to get some entertainment. I want, _need,_ to stop this. I can't just sit and let it happen. I have experienced the horrors in the games - twice - and I can't let anybody else go through with it.

We have reached the drop point by now, and a ladder is lowered to pick us up. I grab onto it - Peeta does too - and we are both lifted back into the hovercraft.

And we fly away from our home.

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**Sorry if I stuffed up any personalities. Characters aren't my strong point. **


	5. Interview

**Thanks to the people that reviewed and picked out that error! Don't worry, I've edited it. Thanks a heap! :)**

**Disclaimer: If I could be any person right now, I would pick to be Suzanne Collins. Unfortunately, I am not, and therefore, do not own the Hunger Games.**

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**Chapter 5**

Interview

From the air, District 13 looks rather a lot like District 12. The rubble may not be smoking, but it is there. There is no life. At least not that one can see from a hovercraft.

In the seventy-five years since the Dark Days, all most all of the new construction has been underground. During the war, the people of Thirteen fought the government forces, then trained their nuclear weapons at the Capitol (for that was what Thirteen made; not jewels, like One, or Food, like Eleven, but weapons. Deadly weapons.) Then they struck a bargain. If the Capitol left them alone, they would play dead, let all of the other districts think them finished, then get on with their own business. Of course the Capitol accepted. What else could they do?

Now everybody lives underground. You can only go out for a bit of sunlight if it says so on your schedule. The first few days, Peeta and I got out of needing a schedule, as we were 'recovering.' But after Snows broadcast of an interview with Gale, we had to do the same as everybody else.

We got a schedule.

You are not allowed to not follow it. Every morning, you have to stick your arm in this machine and it tattoos your forearm with your schedule. Then, in the evening, you wash it off, only to get a new one the next day. It was downright irritating. I was not used to having to do anything, other than school, I could do what I wanted. And the last few months, I didn't even have that. Yes, sure, the Capitol was _incredibly _controlling, telling me that I _had_ to love Peeta, that I _had _to marry him. Well, yes, I do prefer the schedule to all that. But it does not stop it from being irritating. At least the Capitol didn't tell me what time of the day I had to have a bath.

But I pretty much ignore what is on my arm. After breakfast I just go back to room 307, the small compartment I share with my mother and Prim, or I just wander around 13 or just fall asleep hidden.

Right now, I am just standing outside the door marked 307. I need to tell my mother my decision to be the Mockingjay. I need her to approve it before I tell everybody else. I don't know why.

In the past, I never told my mother anything. I liked to be independent. Sure, I still did. But this was big. Massive. I was going to war. And I thought it only fair that my Mother should know about it. But I needed to keep it from Prim. She wouldn't like it at all. All I have to do is think of those small arms trying to hold me back, more than a year ago, when I volunteered to take her place in the games. No, she wouldn't like it one bit.

At least she is slightly happier now. Leaving 12 hit Prim hard. Most of her friends from school didn't make it. And she cared for Gale as well. But there was one thing that I knew she missed the most. Buttercup. Her mangy, flea ridden cat.

When Peeta presented him to her, she was ecstatic. If only for a few minutes. Then she started to cry. But I know Prim. She will get better now. I will have to add Buttercup to the many things I will never stop owing Peeta for. He had one of the soldiers collect the horrid creature while we went to the Seam. He didn't think I would want to go to the Victors Village. He got Prim the company that she needed... I find it hard to comfort people these days.

I take a deep breath, and am about to push the door open when some-one calls down the hall.

"Soldier Katniss Everdeen." I turn to see who it is. Boggs. Coins man. She has him twisted around her pinkie.

"Yes?"

"You are needed in command."

The door swung open to reveal my mother. She looked between us, then said,

"Hang on. My daughter has not been back for five minutes. She hasn't even walked in the door! And you expect her to go to some war meeting?" I was amazed. My mother was hardly able to stand up against anyone, hardly this tall, large soldier, and an important one at that.

Ah well. Coin isn't going to be happy if I miss a meeting of any sort.

"No, it's ok." I reassure her. "I'll come back later." Boggs nods in approval, and leads me to command.

"Ah, nice of you to join us, Katniss," Coin said as we entered the room. "We were just discussing the implications of the broadcast we received from the Capitol a few days ago."

"Sorry," I asked, "But what broadcast?"

"The one concerning your… cousin. Do you remember it?"

I shook my head. I had never actually watched the broadcast, I was only told about it. Prim and Haymitch Had told me that Gale had been seen doing an interview with Caesar Flickerman, the host of the Hunger Games. All I really cared about at the time was that he was alive.

"Well then, come over here and you can watch it. Peeta, I believe you haven't see it either." For the first time I was aware of Peeta, standing in a corner by Finnick. He smiled at me, seeming to notice me for the first time too. Then he walked over to Coin and I.

"No, actually, I haven't."

"Alright then. You two go with Boggs. He'll bring you back here when you're done."

Boggs lead us into a small room next door, where there was only a T.V and a couple of chairs. He motioned for us to sit down, then started the tape. The screen flickered, and suddenly I was looking at Caesar. And next to him, looking like he was about to jump out of his seat and smash every camera in the room, was Gale. My friend.

I tried to choke back a laugh, but I didn't quite manage it. A small chuckle escaped my lips. Peeta looked down at me in confusion, then back at the screen. He grinned.

I could never quite imagine Gale in makeup. Yes, I had seen Peeta wear the stuff, as all the male tributes do, and sure, every year Caesar had his lips painted a different colour. But Gale? Yet, there he was, his skin looking flawless, his hair sleek and shiny. I wondered what they had to do to make him cooperate. Drug him, probably. He would have fought off anybody trying to tie him down.

Oh, oh, I hope he did not try to fight them… I know he has a terrible temper. A bit like me, actually. But he seems unharmed. This calms me down a little.

"Hello, hello people of Panem!" cried Caesar, starching out his arms. "Today we have with us none other than Gale Hawthorne, cousin of Katniss Everdeen. As I am sure all of you have heard, District 12 has met its end. Gale is here to talk about how about that happened. Gale, would you like to give us your first hand experience of what happened that frightful day?"

Gales face turned from anger to straight out disbelieve. Then back again. But maybe with a little bit more hatred. I could tell he was seething. Surely, the whole country could. Well, did. They had already seen this. Then, Gale surprised me. He pulled himself together and smiled. But it did not reach his eyes. He was acting, just like I had been for the past year.

"I would love to, Caesar. You see, we in 12, we were rather attached to Katniss and Peeta. They were the only _decent_ Victors we have had in the past 75 years. I mean, come on. That first guy, didn't he commit suicide just before his victory tour, so he didn't have to see the family of those he killed? And don't even get me started on Haymitch. He embarrasses our district every time he steps in front of the camera. Peeta and Katniss were the victors we never got to have. It was the first time two people had ever survived. They had the most wonderful costumes. And their interviews were fantastic, not to mention Katniss' training score. So when we heard that these two people, who had brought more glory to your district than any others had before, were going back into the games, with _twenty-two other victors_, and that those would include people like Brutus, Gloss, Cashmere, Finnick… and _Enobaria_, you can imagine that we were not so happy." Gale stared into the camera. "We thought that they were headed for certain death." He looked away. "Not only that, but they would lose all of their glory, no longer true victors, as they had been killed in the Hunger Games."

Gale went on to talk about how they were so excited about how we were doing so well, hoping that at least one of us could make it home. One of us would make sure the other was remembered, right? He said that when they saw a hovercraft come down to take us away, when we were _still alive_, they were furious. There were only a few people left! Finnick, Beetee, and Johanna were injured, Brutus and Chaff dead. The only real threat left was Enobaria, and they knew I could take her out with my arrows. They thought the Capitol was purposefully trying to stop Peeta and I from winning.

"We were mistaken." I did a double take. What? Gale hated the Capitol! I knew that! Why was he defending them? For now he was talking about how the people of 12 had been wrong, that the Capitol was right to punish them for trying to rebel.

"Katniss and Peeta were trying to ruin the Games." He continued. "They were going to bring more shame to our District. At least now, there is now District to shame. The memory of District 12 shall remain what it was: a strong, determined district, which may have not had many victors, but it had many firsts."

"Well, now wasn't that… inspiring," said Caesar.

"Sure." Muttered Peeta beside me. I had almost forgotten he was there. "Very inspiring Caesar." He turned to me. "That's what their doing, Katniss. They're trying to stop other districts from rebelling."

I nodded. He was right. I was just about to reply when Caesar started to talk again.

"What do you think about Katniss' actions? She is your cousin, you know her best, except for maybe Peeta. What do you think was going through her head?"

"I don't know Caesar. I just don't know. You say I knew her best? Well, I thought I did. When she came back from the games… She was changed. It wasn't just that she liked Peeta. She… she seemed darker. She kept talking about how evil the Capitol was, to send children into the arena to die. I tried to explain to her, I tried to tell her that the children are sent to the games so that the districts don't rebel, because if they did, all of the children would die, not just two a year. She wouldn't listen. And now look what happened."

"So, If you had a message for her, what would you tell her?"

"I would tell her what I should have told her a while back. To stop fighting. Because when you fight, someone, whether it is her, a child, a parent, a Capitol citizen, will get hurt. Someone innocent. Eventualy, she'll reget it. But it isn't just her." Once again, Gale turned to the camera, and stared at it. But it wasn't the intense stare that I knew he could produce. Whatever he was going to say, he did not think it was correct. "All of you. Everybody should stop fighting. In a war, thousands and thousands of people die over two or three years. So far, the Hunger Games have killed less than two thousand in seventy-five years. Wouldn't it make sense to stop the war and go back to the peaceful life we had?"

"Indeed. So, basically, you're calling for a cease-fire?"

"Basically."

"Thankyou, Gale Hawthorne, it was great to have here on this show. Now everybody, don't forget to tune in for-"

Boggs turned the T.V off. I just sat there, staring at the empty screen.

"Oh no." I turned to see Peeta staring at the screen in disbelief. "This is bad."

"Off course it's bad!" I yelled, suddenly finding my voice. "By best friend is prisoner! Snow is making him tell people to stop fighting! How could it be any worse! He's probably getting tortured!"

"No, Katniss, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Then how did you mean it?" I don't even know why I was screaming at Peeta. What had he done to me? I forced myself to calm down, taking deep breaths. "Sorry. I know you didn't."

"That's alright," He said, taking my hand. "I understand."

"What did you mean though?"

"I… It's nothing."

"Peeta, please." Sighing, he looked up from our hands.

"He told people to ceasefire. Don't worry, most people will realize that he is being told to do this, but… the people of 13 will see him as a traitor."

"But, surely they realize he is being forced to say those things! Gale wouldn't.. I know him." I finished lamely.

"I know you do. But that won't be enough to convince Coin."

_Coin._ Of course. That's what she was going to discuss. How to minimize the damage caused by this.

"Why did they wait until we got back? To discuss this?"

"We already did." Said Boggs. "She just wanted to talk to you about being the Mockingjay. Now that people have been told not to fight, we need some-one out there contradicting it. The Capitols propos have not worked as well as they had hoped. Although Gale is known from his interviews when you were top eight in your games, he is not known well enough to make a big impact." He stared right at me. "Someone well known, someone like you, could overshadow him in an instant."

I gave him one last look, let go of Peetas hand, and stalked out of the room.


	6. Demands

**I know this pretty much the same as Mockingjay, but don't worry. It's going to change more bit's kinda necessary.  
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**Disclaimer: If I owned The Hunger Games, I would have a lot more money than I do now. Since I don't, I clearly own nothing. **

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**Chapter 6**

Demands

Once again, I wake up screaming.

Someone is by my side, trying to calm me down. Someone with blonde hair and blue eyes. First I think it's Peeta, but it can't be. He is too far away to hear my screams, several halls away. Besides, this persons hair is too long.

It's Prim.

"Katniss! Katniss! Katniss, wake up! It's ok, it's just a dream, Katniss!"

I hate to see her in so much pain. I force myself to wake up.

"Alright, Prim, I'm awake," I groan.

"Are you sure?"

I sigh.

"Yes Prim, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare. I get them all the time."

"I know, but…" she shook her head, then looked at me again. This time, the look on her face was caring. Hang on, when did this happen? Not that long ago, she was a small, twelve year old girl who couldn't keep her dress tucked in. So much had happened since then, and my little sister had been forced to grow up. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I-" And I realized that I did want to talk about it. I needed someone to understand what I was going through. "Prim, I've decided to be the Mockingjay."

"I knew you would. But, what has that got to do with your nightmare? Or are you worried that you'll have to go out there, and have to... and see…" She stopped talking, but I knew what she meant. I would have to go out there, and fight. Probably have to kill again. I would see all of those people…

"No, that's not it. You see, Prim, I worried about Gale."

"Ah. You know, I'm sure he'll be fine. With you as the Mockingjay, the war will end sooner than we think it will, and then Coin will let him out of the Capitol-"

"But Prim, that is exactly what I am worried about! What If, when I am the Mockingjay, the war ends. You saw what Gale said on the T.V! Coin would have him executed as a traitor!"

"I don't think she would."

"Prim-" I begin, exasperated. But she cuts me off.

"No, Katniss, really. I don't think Coin would hurt him. Maybe she would punish him a little, but not too much."

"But, I… What makes you think that?"

"Because he is your family."

"Prim, everyone knows that's not true!" I start to panic again. There are quite a few flaws in her logic.

"Well, he is almost your family. He is your best friend. I am sure Coin will not harm him; by doing so she would alienate you from her cause."

"But, what will she need me for when the war is over? I won't matter any more! All she needs me for is to encourage people." Prim stops for a minute, thinking.

"Then maybe you could ask her. Tell her that you will only be the Mockingjay if she promises not to hurt Gale. You have more influence here than you realise, you know." It was pretty much the same as what Peeta told me back in 12. That I shouldn't just be wallowing in misery, that I should actually _do_ something. Because I have the power to get it done.

"That's, that's a really good idea."

"Thankyou. Now that we have that sorted, do you think you will be ok to sleep?" No, I don't. I know I won't. But I don't want to worry her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You go get some sleep now. We'll have a lot more work to do about the place, now that your little pampered Prince is here." She smiled, and crawled into bed.

When her breathing slowed, I got up, and tiptoed to the door. Then I walked through a couple of hallways before I came to it. Room 412. There is only one way that I can have a decent night

I hadn't been in here before. When we first got to 13, Peeta and I were in rooms near the hospital, as we still had wounds from the games that needed to be patched up. Now though, we had been given rooms with our family. As Peeta has no family, he has been given a small room by himself. That's why he is so far from us: his room is with the other singular ones, while we are in a family room.

I pushed open the door, and closed it quietly behind me. I could see him on his bed. He was sleeping.

As I got closer, noticed he was shivering, and covered in sweat.

"Katniss! Katniss! Where are you? Katniss! Run!"

"Peeta! Wake up!" I sit next to hi on the bed and shake him awake. "Peeta! It's OK, I'm here."

"Katniss!" He stares at me with wide eyes. Slowly, he calms down. "You're here."

"Really? I didn't notice." He ignores my joke.

"Why are you here?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"Nightmares?" I nod. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me down against his chest. "Do you want to talk about it?" This time, I shake my head. I don't think he would be too happy about Prims plan. "That's ok." He leaned down and pressed his face against my hair. I smiled, and snuggled against his chest.

I felt like a pressure had been lifted from me, somehow. I guess it's just that, finally, I am able to sleep.

~~0~~

I wake up to a pounding on the door.

"Peeta! You better get up now or I'll bash down the door!" Haymitch. Of course. "Get up!"

I groaned, and tried to pull the covers back over me.

"Alright then, be that way! I'll just have to tell Coin and _Katniss_ that you were too lazy to come to the meeting!"

I felt Peeta move beside me.

"What's going on? Is the Capitol attacking?" He moaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Nah, it's just Haymitch."

Peeta looked at me and smiled.

"Good morning."

"Don't you good morning me!" Haymitch screeched. "I still need to go get your little girlfriend after this, so you- " he barged through the door. " –had better- Oh. Hello Katniss."

I glared at him.

"Anyways, the two of you have to get up now. Coin's called a meeting, and you two had better be there in two minutes, or-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, we'll be there." Peeta got out of the bed and stretched.

With one last glare, Haymitch walked out of the door with a gruff "You'd better."

As soon as he was gone, I ran over to the door. I still needed to go back to my room to change.

"See you in two minutes, Peeta!"

"See you Katniss."

I ran back to my room, gaining a few odd stares from the people wandering about. It wasn't every day they got to see their Mockingjay sprinting through the hallways in her pyjamas. Not that I was officially the Mockingjay yet.

When I was ready, I went down to Command. Peeta was already there, as was Haymitch. It looked like I was the lat to arrive. Again.

When I took my place beside Peeta, Coin started to talk.

"So. As I am sure most of you have realized, we are here to complete the meeting that was… canceled yesterday." I blushed, remembering how I had hid in a linen cupboard while Coin had her men look for me. "So." She turned to me. "Straight to the point."

I expected her to be rough, to tell me that I had to be the Mockingjay, or she'd kick me out of 13 or something. But she surprised me. Her face softened a little, and her voice lost some of its coldness.

"Katniss, I understand what you are going through. I think most people here do. I know that I never went into the games. But I have had many people I love taken away from me by the Capitol. I know how that feels. You might think that everything is over, but it isn't. There are some people that can't help when bad things happen. But they still try. Then there are the people who can, but give up. Don't be one of those people, Katniss. You can help. You can lead this rebellion. You can lift people's hopes, she them what they are fighting for. The people we have lost, they went down trying to stop this madness. Don't let them have died for nothing."

What is she talking about? Gale isn't dead. I have lost Madge, my Father, Rue. But they didn't die fighting the Capitol. Well, I don't know about Madge. And what was that she said about leading the rebellion? I thought that was her job?

Then I noticed something. Although her voice and expression had softened, her eyes had not. They glared at me with… Hatred? Anger? I'm not sure. But it didn't seem nice. Then I realized what she was doing.

She was just being persuasive.

Trying to force me to do something wasn't going to work. She must know that. She'd seen my Games. All a person needs to do is look at my face as I hold out those berries to know you can't force me into anything. All you need to do is _talk_ to me. She is trying to get me to think that she's being nice, so I'll trust her, then she'll turn around and start bossing me about, possibly injuring my friend after the war.

I've spent way to long in the arena to fall for that one.

"So, what do you say? Will you be our Mockingjay and win this war, or will you sit on the side lines, safe and sound, and come out, disgraced, marked as a coward at the end of the war?"

And suddenly, I know what to do. Prim was right.

"Can I have a pen and paper?" Coin stares at me. "Please? It will just take a moment." She nods, and Boggs passes it to me.

I start to write down my demands.

First on the list is obvious. _Gale._ I need him to survive.

Next I think of my family. Prim. I need to keep her happy. So, I write down the next thing. _Buttercup._

_Think, think, _I tell myself. _What else do you want?_

And the answer is simple. Peeta. I need him with me to do what I am going to have to do.

I can't think of anything else, but I don't want my list to comprise of only two things. This could be my last chance. I look around the room for inspiration.

And my eyes rest on Finnick.

Finnick, Finnick, Finnick. He has lost just as much as I have. Sure, his home hasn't been destroyed, but he's lost Annie. I add her to my list. She has been confirmed as a prisoner of the Capitol, like most of the other Victors, such as Johanna. The Capitol isn't sure what they will do, but as we have quite a few here is district 13, they aren't taking any chances.

I cross Annie off my list and replace it with another word. _Victors_.

I shut my eyes. I have three demands. Anything else? I feel my hand move across the page, writing out three words by itself, like it has it's own mind. When I open my eyes, I look down to see what they are.

_I KILL SNOW. _

Well, looks like I've got my fifth demand. Well, four really. The first and the fourth are pretty much the same.

"Are you done, Katniss?" Coin asks I nod. "What's your answer?"

"Yes. I will be your Mockingjay." I wait for all of the exciting murmurs to die down. Coin can tell I'm not finished. She frowns. "But, I have a few conditions."

A moan runs through the room. I can almost see it spreading around like a shock wave.

"And what might they be?" Coins voice is back to normal, maybe even colder, if that were possible.

"First," I began, deciding to start with the easiest one, "My family gets to keep our cat." There were, of course, a few objections. But Coin batted them down.

"I'm sure that can be arranged. What else?"

"Peeta. I'll need him with me to do this."

"With you how? By your side at all times? Will you continue with the star-crossed lovers?"

"I think that is best for appearances sake," Spoke up Plutarch. I hadn't even noticed he was there.

"Agreed. What next?" Coin looks at me expectantly.

I too a deep breath. Well, here goes.

"My friend, Gale, and any Victor that has been held prisoner by the Capitol, including Johanna Mason and Annie Cresta will be pardoned for whatever they might say against the rebellion."

Coins answer was immediate and seemingly unquestionable.

"No." But I won't give up that easily.

"Yes. It's not their fault they were captured. Who knows what the Capitol is doing to them?"

"They'll be tried as war criminals and treated as the tribunal sees fit."

"They'll be granted immunity!" I all but scream at her. "You will pledge this in front of the entire population of District 13. Today. It will be recorded. You'll hold yourself and your government responsible for their safety, or you'll have to find yourself another Mockingjay!"

As I was speaking I realized that I had to say that. If she didn't announce it in public, she could easily go back on her word.

I can hear people hissing to each other. I can only pick out a few words, things such as '_inspiring_' and '_perfect_'. I have no idea what they are talking about, but I don't care. I'm watching Coin.

I can almost see her brain working. If she give the victors immunity, there will be many people who will have something to say. If she gives Gale immunity… She could lose the respect of her citizens after what he had said on T.V the other day. But if she doesn't, she'll lose me. And she can't just find herself another Mockingjay. She knows this. The closest thing she's got is Peeta, and while he may be amazing with words, it just isn't the same. He wasn't the one that held up those berries. He was going to eat them, sure, but out of love. Not many people in the districts believed the same of me. I was doing it to deny the Capitol.

"Fine." She snapped. "But you better perform."

"I'll perform when you've made the announcement."

Finally, she turns away from and addresses a man on he left.

"Call a national security assembly today," She orders. "I'll make the announcement then. Is there anything left on your list, Katniss?"

"Just one more thing. I kill Snow." A tiny smile played about Coins lips.

"When the time comes, I'll flip you for it." I shrug.

"Fair enough."

"I'll leave her in your hands, then, Plutarch." And with that, she and everybody else files out of the room. Well. Almost.

I sit there, staring at the patterns on the carpet. Peeta wraps his arms around me.

"You were great." I allowed myself a small smile. Then Plutarch cleared his throat. Once again, I hadn't even noticed he was there.

"Katniss, I have something to show you." He pulls out a sketch book and passes it to me. I open it, and see some of the most wonderfull drawings. Drawings of me in armour. But not just any armour. It's black, but there is a slight fullness to the sleeves that allows the white underneath to show. It's Mockingjay armour. And there's only one person I can think of cabale of designing something so beautiful.

"Cinna."

"He made me promise I wouldn't show it to you until you had decided to be the Mockingjay yourself." Said Plutarch. I nodded, carefully turning the pages. "We don't just have the sketches," he continued. "We have the armour too. But I can't show you that now. There is something else you need to see." He stood up and went to the door. "Well, come on then!"

Peeta pulls me up, and takes my hand. Plutarch leads us through a series of corridors, then into an elevator. He presses a button, and we shoot down, even further bellow the earth than we already are. When we stop, Plutarch leads us to a door labeled _3908_, and twists a key in the lock.

There, huddled on a small couch, is my Prep Team.


	7. Weapons

**Ok, so, I know this was late in coming, and I know I could give you about twenty excuses, but I won't. I'll give you one word. **_**School.**_** Yes, does that cover it? Yay, now on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. End of story. **

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**Chapter 7**

Weapons

"Okay, okay, I get it." I have been sitting here, in this room, for about three hours. Yeah. That's right. The amazing Mockingjay, head of the rebellion, who had just this morning made the president of District 13 agree to several demands, was having a makeover.

Alright, so I know I have had makeovers before. But that was before the _Hunger Games._ A _television show._ Yes, I get why I needed to look nice for those interviews, to get sponsors and stuff. But seriously. This is a _war._ Not some awful, sick form of entertainment for the Capitol. A full scale war.

And here I am, being told that I must not, under any circumstances, touch my face.

Because I'll smudge the makeup.

Wonderful.

To calm my mind a little, I think about what Haymitch told me before I came in here. So long as I sit still and be good, I can go down to special defense and see Beetee, who apparently has a surprise for me.

Wait, bad idea.

Thinking of Beetee makes me feel guilty. I still haven't seen him since that time on the hovercraft, and he was unconscious then. I feel so bad for thinking he had tried to kill us.

Shaking those unhappy thoughts from my head, I sorted through my mind, trying to come up with a slightly less daunting topic. The announcement? Oh yeah, cause that's going to be _heaps_ of fun.

"And you're done!" Venia announced. I sighed with relief. "Ok, you can go back out to Plutarch now! Have a good day, Katniss!"

"You too guys." I walk out of the room – finally – and went over to Plutarch. Peeta was already there. As usual, it seemed his makeover took a lot less time than mine did.

Plutarch led Peeta and I down a heap of stairs and through a couple of corridors, until we reached a door marked _Special Defence_. I felt a surge of excitement run through me. I could only think of one thing that Beetee could have for me. A Bow.

The excitement suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a feeling of uneasiness. Beetee. Uh oh. I am not looking forward to this.

Plutarch threw open the door, and we went inside. Beetee was sitting in a wheelchair, examining a cage full of small, brightly coloured birds. Peeta closed the door behind us, and as it clicked shut, Beetee spun around with reflexes born from being thrown into the arena.

"Ah, Katniss, Peeta, here to pick up your weapons? Good, good, come right through here." And with that, he stood up, and walked straight into the next room. No nice comments. No _nasty_ (and well deserved) comments. No nothing.

It's making me even more nervous.

"Well, go on then." Urged Plutarch, shoving us towards the door, "It's rude to make him wait, you know."

Peeta pulled me gently towards the door. We had to go through a heaps of security checks, and had our DNA and fingerprints tested about twenty times, but we finally came to an amazing room full of some of the most amazing weapons I had ever seen in my life. There were guns, sure, but they were not the only things there. There were also swords, knives, tridents, cannons, nets, slingshots, maces, clubs, sharp discs that looked like they were meant for throwing, and many more. But the bows are what held my attention. They are sleek and shiny, incredibly beautiful. But not just that. They look deadly. These bows could kill someone.

Beetee does not give us time to gawk at all of these amazing things. He drags us through yet another door, where there are even _more_ security checks, until we finally come into another room.

Sitting on the far wall, each in it's own stand, is a trident, a knife, an axe, and a bow. They all surpass anything that I have ever seen before, including the incredible objects sitting a hallway and a heap of security stuff away. I stare hungrily at the bow. Surely it is meant for me. It is black, and covered with intricate carvings. It is already strung, and I can just tell by looking at it that it is perfect.

Beetee steps forward, lifts up the bow, and holds it out to me.

I was right. It's mine.

I could hardly contain my excitement as I reached forward to take to bow. But just before my fingers brush the polished wood, a small voice in the back of my head starts to speak.

_Why do you want this bow?_ I snorted. Wasn't that obvious? It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life. _But, don't you remember what bows do?_

Bows… bows kill. I shuddered. Is that what I wanted? Did I really want to go out there and kill people? I had killed enough already.

I was forced to consider a question that I thought I knew, but, I wasn't completely sure If my answer was good enough.

Why am I fighting?

Well, I want to stop the Hunger Games, obviously. Too many kids die every year just so that the Capitol can prove a point.

The words that Gale spoke to the whole of Panem came back to me.

"_Everybody should stop fighting. In a war, thousands and thousands of people die. So far, the Hunger Games have killed less than two thousand. Wouldn't it make sense to stop the war and go back to the peaceful life we had?"_

What if he was right? What if it was better if we all just stopped fighting?

_No,_ whispered the voice. _No, it wouldn't. It's not just the _Hunger Games_ that you want to put an end to. You want to put an end to the way the Capitol treats the people of the Districts. You're not only fighting for the children's right to stay alive, you are fighting for their right to _live. _Because that is what the Capitol is doing. They are not just killing people. Living has so much more to it than just surviving. And the people of the districts can't live with the Capitol hovering over them like a great big bird of prey._

I reached out and grabbed the bow confidently. I know why I am fighting.

Beetee explained to me how to work my bow. It would activate upon 'hearing' the sound of my voice, and to deactivate it, I had to say 'goodnight'. When it was deactivated, it would not hit its target; the string would shoot the arrows off at a slight angle, no matter how good a shot the archer was.

"Now, these are your arrows. These ones are normal, these ones are fire, and these are explosive."

"Ri- wait, what? Fire? Explosive? _Explosive arrows?_"

"Yes, Katniss, explosive arrows." Beetee repeated in a tired voice.

"I, well, wow." I managed to get out. _Explosive arrows!_ I could do some serious damage with these. If only I had them back when I was trying to destroy the career food supply in my first games…

"Peeta, I have made you this knife. It will never break, and will never grow dull. It too activates by the sound of your voice, and deactivates when you say 'goodnight'. When deactivated, it is no longer sharp. Also, if you throw it or drop it, press this button here-" Beetee pointed out a small button attached to an arm band that he wrapped around Peeta's wrist "-and it will return to your hand."

"Beetee, I-"

"I know you don't want to fight, Peeta. Don't worry, I don't think they will actually be sending you out there. It was meant to be just for show, Katniss, your bow too, but I figured that if I was going to make them, I might as well make them useful. Just in case."

"Right, thanks, Beetee."

I'm not sure whether to be relieved or angry about not fighting. I want to help, but I have killed enough people already… I guess Coin thins I can help in other ways though. Maybe that's best.

The door suddenly swung open and Finnick walked in.

"What did I miss?"

"Just handing out weapons, Finnick." Finnick's expression lightened when he spotted the marvellous trident. Beetee handed it to him, and explained what it did. It was similar to Peeta's knife: never dulls or breaks, comes back to his hand with a press of a button, and is not sharp when deactivated.

"Nice." Said Finnick appreciatively. "But, anyway," He started, turning to me. "I didn't come down here to get a great trident from Beetee." I raised an eyebrow at him. He chuckled. 'Well, okay, so it was the main reason. But I want to thankyou, Katniss."

"Me?" I asked, startled. "Why?"

"For what you did for Annie. You are getting Coin to give her immunity. I worry about her. I've been afraid, ever since I got here, that she would say something, or do something, and then Coin would say she had commited blasphemy or some such rubbish, and they would try to take her away from me, and-"

"Finnick, Finnick. Stop."

"Sorry." He took a deep breath, then looked me in the eye. "What I mean is, thank you. I don't know how I can repay you."

"I'm sue we'll think of something," I joked. "How about you get me out of the makeup?" I gestured to my face. He laughed.

"That wouldn't be doing you a favour. Then you would have to sit around so they could do it _again._ And, anyway," He grinned, and winked at me. "You need it."

I huffed as Peeta and Finnick burst out laughing. Beetee kept staring at the floor. I sighed. Finnick's 'thankyou' had brought to mind an apology that I had to make.

"Beetee… Beetee, I'm sorry." I he looked up, startled.

"You? Why?"

"For being so horrible. For thinking that you were trying to kill us, when really you were trying to save our lives."

"It's fine Katniss. I'm the one that should be apologizing. I was there, knocking you out with a stick and cutting into you. I wanted to explain, I knew that the Gamemakers had probably figured out what I was doing anyway, but I knew you wouldn't listen. I did what I thought was best, but you got hurt and-"

"It's fine. It wasn't your fault, I know you were trying to save us. Thanks for that, by the way." I smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"Well, that's that then. Katniss, Peeta, Plutarch will probably want you back now." We nodded, and then Beetee gestured towards the door. But then I stopped. There had been four weapons on that wall. I glanced over to the final weapon, and froze as the realisation dawned on me.

It's an axe.

"Beetee, that axe. It's for… it's for…" He nodded, knowing what I was trying to say.

"Yes Katniss. It's for her. If she gets out."

Another person that saved my life that I didn't appreciate at the time. Another person in the hands of the Capitol. Probably wishing that they are dead.

The four of us stood there, looking at that axe, we all thought of the same woman. A person that none of us, except Finnick, had truly had any feelings for until now.

And I knew that we had to get her out. Gale wasn't the only one. She had gone through hell and back as well. She had been in two Hunger Games just like the four of us. She had seen suffering and suffered herself, yet she sacrificed herself so that Peeta and I could get out. I owed her one.

That pushy, temperamental, mean,_ amazing_ woman.

Johanna.

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**Ok, so I know there was not much Peeta in there, but bear with me. There is more Peeta coming, I promise. **


	8. Announcement

**So, I'm going to try for one update a week, at least. Try being the big word there… If I miss one, I'll make up for it during the next school holidays. That is the Plan anyway. **

**Disclaimer: Sorry, I'm just the average Aussie teenage girl.**

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**Chapter 8**

Announcement

I groaned. We have just spent the last half and hour trying to say this stupid line properly.

Ok, sorry. I lie. Let me try again.

_I_ had just spent the last half an hour trying to say this stupid line properly.

Peeta got it right first shot. Of course he did. He's the perfect little actor. Me, on the other hand… Well, my interview practice with Haymitch in my first games says it all.

"Ready to try again Katniss?" Fulvia, Plutarch's assistant, looked up at me from her clipboard. I sighed.

"I guess so."

I moved over to the centre of the room, where they had set up a green screen. Beetee said that they could edit the shots on a computer to make it look like I was in a battle or something.

My job was simple. All I had to do was stare at the screen, then spin around and yell;

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

"No, no, no! Katniss, you're all rigid! You need to loosen up a little! Look natural!"

"_How_ am I supposed to look natural when I have said this line a hundred times already? And all I can see is this huge green thing, not some inspirational battle! Any way, I'm pretty sure that it woud be hard to 'loosen up' at a battle scene where I could die any minute!"

"You were relaxed enough in the Hunger Games to act!"

"Yes, I was! But do you see the difference? Am I in a forest? A cave? Is there a sadistic career trying to hunt me down and murder me as slowly and painfully as possible? No! There is a giant piece of fluro green fabric!"

"Just _try,_ okay?"

"Fine."

I turned to the green fabric, stared out, then whipped around, raised my bow and-

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our fight for justice!"

"Cut. Peeta, why don't you come over here and show Katniss how it's done?" Fulvia was practically ripping her hair out in frustration at this point.

I rolled my eyes. Oh well. At least if Peeta's doing it, I can have a break. If only for a few seconds.

"Katniss! Watch Peeta! Maybe you'll be able to pick up something!"

I watch as Peeta walks to green screen, turns, and raises his bow. I have to admit, he looks pretty impressive. The fan at the back of the room is blowing his hair around, and he has a fiery expression on his face, his blue eyes sparkling. He even almost managed to pull off the cheesy words and make them sound intimidating and inspirational. Almost.

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

"See Katniss? That didn't look too hard now, did it?"

"Uh…."

Peeta rolled his eyes and walked back over to the corner.

"Off you go then, Katniss."

I sighed. Again. I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

"Alright, that's it. Katniss, we will try this _ one more time_, and if there is no improvement, we'll have to think of something else."

"You say that like it's a punishment."

"It should be. Do you want to win this war? How will we when the districts are not motivated?"

"And you think this will motivate them? _We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice?_ Really?"

"That would be why I am trying to make you recite it, yes."

"Honestly, you people. Have you ever been to the districts?"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"Something as lame as that won't get people motivated! They need something more! They'll see through this just as they saw through the Capitol's shots of District Thirteen and the Mockingjay! And no, not me, I mean the one that flew past the Justice Building!"

"They will not! Once this has been edited, people will think that you have gone into battle!"

"Oh, so you're lying to them, then. You do know why people want to overthrow the Capitol, right?"

"Because of the Hunger Games, the oppression, their general evilness. Lying for their own good is no where near as bad as killing off innocent children."

"Yes, but Gale was right."

"Whatever are you talking about?"

"Loads of people will die in this war. Why can't we give them something real to fight for!"

"They have something real! Their own lives! Their homes! Their children!"

"But they've had those reasons for decades! And have they ever fought? No! They need to be motivated! Not much. You saw how they reacted when Peeta and I took those Berries. All we need is a spark! Just one more spark to make sure that Snow doesn't quench the fire! Then the districts will rebel, the Capitol will get overrun by sheer numbers and determination! We can beat them if we put our minds to it! That's all it is! The Capitol has been trying to keep our minds in a box for our entire lives, don't you see? They have tried to keep us in with electric fences and a handful of rules. Nobody dared oppose them, scared that they would be shot and their children reaped! But some people went under the fence, and we let our minds expand, and began to think up ideas that we hadn't before. What if there was some way to beat the system? What if we could defy the Capitol? All they needed was a spark! And they got it! Snow tried to quench the fire, but this fire can not be put out." I was unsure how exactly this related to the original topic, but I kept going. I had been bottling up my emotions for a while. I needed to let it out. "Let Snow come. Let him try. Let him bring his army of Peacekeepers. Let him scramble for buckets of water and a hose, because he'll soon realise it's fruitless. This fire will can't be extinguished. It's spreading. It's infectious! There's only one way to stop a fire of this magnitude. Wait for it to run out of fuel." I glared at Fulvia, who was quivering. I noticed a small smile on her face, but I ignored it. "Sure, loads of people will die. But loads more will be reaped or punished for no reason if we stand by and do nothing! So you do something useful, don't just stand there and quiver with fear! We need everybody to stand together! Do it for the people who starved while the Capitol was feasting. Do it for the Parents who lost a child. Do it for the Tributes, who lost everything they ever had or might have had! No, this fire can't be stopped. Not until we have burned down the forest."

I jumped as I heard a short beep.

"Did you get it?"

"Get what? Peeta, get what?"

"Yes, I did!" Squealed Cressida, a woman on one of the cameras. "From when she first said "_All we need is a spark_"! This is amazing stuff! Amazing, Katniss!"

I stared at them. They were filming me? What? Why?

"Great job Katniss!" Fulvia cried. I turned my gaze to her. "That was amazing! You went from telling me off to a very motivational speech! Did you plan it?"

Motivational? Seriously? I was just trying to get a point across, even if I failed miserably.

Before I could contemplate this, however, Fulvia was suddenly squealing again.

"Katniss, Peeta! You were supposed to be in the Dining Hall thrity seconds ago! Go, quick!"

"Can't we get all this stuff off first?" asked Peeta, gesturing to our outfits.

"Not enough time. Now go!"

We sprinted off down the hall, hoping that Coin wouldn't murder us.

"At least we're not wearing too much makeup." Puffed Peeta. I snorted.

"Speak for yourself. I didn't think that the rebel Headquarters hold have even one bottle, but I reckon I've been covered with more stuff than they have in the entire training centre!"

He grinned.

"At least you look kind of like your self."

Well, that was true. They did use rather a lot of make up, but only to highlight my face and wipe out my scar. I still looked normal. Just a prettier normal.

"It still feels weird though." Peeta nodded in agreement as we flew into the Dining Hall. All of the National Assemblies were held here, as it was one of the only rooms large enough to hold the entire population.

"Ah, here at last, I take it? Why are you so late?" I glanced at my watch. We were two minutes late. _Two minutes._ Surely that didn't matter that much.

"Sorry, lost track of time. We were filming a propo." Explained Peeta.

"I thought it was to be a short one?"

"Yeah, well, I'm not the best actor." I hissed, earning a glare from Coin.

"But don't worry," covered Peeta, "Cressida got some great footage of Katniss giving Fulvia a lecture. It was very inspirational."

"It had better be, or I won't be making this announcement."

"Don't worry, It's great." Huffed Plutarch. He seemed to have run over from the studio as well.

"Well then. Katniss, Peeta, get on the stage. I want you where everyone can see you. We've been wasting time here."

"Oh, _we've_ been wasting time, have we," I muttered, so only Peeta could hear. He smiled a little, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up onto the stage.

"People of the Rebellion. Thankyou for taking the time to attend this meeting. I shall get right to the point. Katniss Everdeen has decided to be our Mockingjay."

There were a few scattered cheers, and then Coin held up her hand for silence.

"However, she had a few conditions."

Muttering filled the room. All of the rebels had just assumed that I would be the Mockingjay; none of them had imagined that I would want something in return. Coin held her hand up again.

"Katniss has decided that if she is to help us win the war, then we must protect her friends, and the other people that have been affected by the Capitol. So, I am granting a full pardon and immunity to Gale Hawthorne, and all Victors of the Hunger Games."

The hall went deathly silent for a couple of seconds. Then, as if some one had suddenly turned the volume up, it exploded. Not literally, but it felt like it did, the noise was so loud. There were people yelling everywhere, protesting, screaming the word 'traitors' and 'justice'.

Coin was forced to grab a horn and blast it. It was so loud, I had to cover my ears. When it had quieted, the Hall was once again silent.

"That is my final decision. Katniss will be our Mockingjay, and Gale Hawthorne, as well as the Victors, will be given immunity. However, if Katniss make one wrong move as our Mockingjay, then the pardon and immunity will be taken away from her, Peeta Mellark, Gale Hawthorne, and all of the Victors held by the Capitol. That's all. Everyone is now to return to their respective duties or classes."

~~0~~

"Katniss, don't worry. You'll do everything right. Have you seen the footage they got of you earlier this morning?"

"But Peeta, she said that the pardon would be taken away if I made _one wrong move_. And not just from me, Gale and the others. She said you as well!"

Peeta pulled back from his tight embrace, and looked me in the eye.

"Katniss. You will be fine. You will not do anything wrong. We will all be fine, alright? She only said that so the rest of the rebels would not think that you have any control over her. She knows that if they think you can control her, they will follow you instead. Katniss, everybody loves you! You were the spark. Coin is just a politician. Any body could do what she's doing, but no-one else can do what you have done! And it's not just the rebels that love you. The whole of Panem does! Or, well, apart from District Two, and I guess the Capitol people since Snow has been talking about how you want to kill all the Capitol citizens. But other than that, pretty much the whole country loves you! What can you do wrong?"

"Er… I can disobey orders - even if by accident! I could misunderstand something! What If I get angry? And what about the propos? You saw how bad the last one went!"

"Katniss, the last one was perfect."

"You're only saying that."

"No, I'm not. Ok, well, the line that they wanted you to say was pretty bad. But that big speech about how if only the whole of Panem could unite, then the Capitol could be overthrown… Katniss, that was just amazing!"

"But that was a one off! I was angry! That's not going to happen the whole time you know."

"So you're not good at acting. What does it matter? Think about it, Katniss. You have done heaps of things that made everyone in Panem shed a couple of tears, or jump up and down yelling for justice. More than me! When I was talking at the interviews, well, apart from when I said I loved you, it was all acting. But you… when you move some-one, you're not acting. You do everything perfectly when you're just being yourself. So be yourself, and everything will be fine."

"You know that's not true. If I be myself, then I'll end up screaming at Cin in almost every meeting."

"True." Peeta chuckled. "So maybe you should just be yourself when the cameras are on you, yeah? Or, be yourself all the time, but be a more calmed down version of yourself when speaking to anyone of importance, such as Coin. Is that ok?"

"Are you sure? Because, Haymitch always said that I was hostile, and angry, and unlikeable. He said that-"

"Katniss, I thought you would have learnt by now. Don't listen to Haymitch."

I smiled.

"He has saved my live though."

"True. Ok then, I have changed my mind. Don't listen to Haymitch when he talks about you're personality. Te rest of the time, do what he says. Is that better?"

"Slightly."

"Alright then. Are you okay now?"

"A bit, I guess. But it's still... She still said that If I do anything wrong, she'll… well basically, if I put one toe out of line, she'll kill you."

"Kat-"

"No, she's trying to get to me. What did you do wrong? You never openly opposed the rebellion. You never told anyone to join with the Capitol. You didn't make them agree to anything."

"But I am a Victor. I'm probably one of the ones that she mentioned about giving immunity to, right? So, I would be included in the list of people who would loose immunity if you did something wrong… which you won't, by the way."

"But, if that was the case, why didn't she mention Finnick? Or Beetee? They're Victors too. She mentioned you because of me, and it's my fault."

"Katniss, she knows better than anyone that everything you did in the games was an act. She knows that you don't feel anything for me. Katniss, _why_ would she use me to get to you? If she were going to be using either of us for anything like that, it would be using you to get to me. Or Gale. Or Prim. But, why would she use you to get to any of the rest of us? You are the most important one here. It was just to make the rebels understand that even though I was on the stage and hadn't been mentioned, I was a part of the Mockingjay agreement as well. If she mentioned me, they'd assume she'd included Finnick and Beetee as well. Do you see?"

No, I didn't. He thought that I didn't care for him. Sure, I was confused about my feelings and all but… he made it sound like he thought I didn't care about him at all. After all we had gone through together, how could I not have feelings for him? And, to top it off, he was the nicest person I had ever met, (well, maybe on a tie with Prim), he had saved my life many, many times, he was the only reason I could actually sleep at night, he was my main source of comfort, and… I trust him. Yeah, that's right. Not many people I trust in the world. That pretty much goes for my next point as well, because… he cares about me. There aren't many people who truly, truly care about me. There's my mother, Prim, and Gale. Hazelle, maybe Greasy Sae, and possibly, though I'm not always sure, Haymitch. And Cinna, but no-one even knows if he is still alive. That's a pretty short list.

Then, there's Peeta. I have hurt him so much in the past, that he would have every right to just stab me in the back, no wait, stab me everywhere, painfully, and leave me to bleed to death. If he did, I don't think I would hold it against him.

Wow, did I just think that? Me? Katniss Everdeen? Did I really just think that I wouldn't mind if Peeta killed me?

Well, no, I would mind. But I would deserve it.

But, back to the point, I have hurt him. I pretended to love him on the first Games. I will never forget the look on his face when he realised that it was an act. Although, I'm still not sure how much of it actually was an act. But anyway. Those games are too far away now for me to remember about my feelings for Peeta. I can still recall the mutts, that spear in Rue's body, Cato's murderous expression as he held the Knife to Peeta's throat… Why id that I can recall the bad things, but not the good?

Then, those months at home. I avoided him the whole time. He looked so down every time that I saw him, like he was ready to curl up and die. But I just thought that it was the memories of the arena.

Then, on the Victory tour, I pretended to love him again. That must have killed him. I know he loves me. Honestly, he just said it right then, didn't he? It must have been torture for him to have me so close, but to be thinking that I hated him… at least we became friends again. I guess I can't understand though. I have never been in love.

The Quarter Quell. I am still confused on that one. I had no idea what my feelings were then, and I still don't now. What I do know, is that I definitely felt something. Something that wasn't there before. When I saw Peeta lying there, dead, thinking that I could never hear his laugh again, never see his smile… I could never look into those blue eyes, or hear tell me about the bakery… something inside of me seemed to die. And when he opened his eyes again… I don't know what happened. It felt like my heart had jumpstarted, and was running a hundred times faster than before. I felt happy, and sad, and _scared_, all at the same time. Then, that time on the beach… I'm still confused. I know I feel something for him, but I'm going to need more time.

And with this war going on, that seems unlikely.

"Katniss, are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, spaced out a little there, I guess."

"Good. Do you want to go and get some food? It's dinner time now…"

"No, I'm fine. I don't fancy having everybody stare at me right now."

Peeta nodded, then fell silent. We just sat there on his bed for a while, with our arms around each other. Thinking.

"Do you really think that?" I whispered.

"Think what?"

"Think that I don't care for you?"

"Katniss," He forced out a laugh, "You as good as told me you didn't that day on the train."

"But that was _ages _ago. And I was confused. We had just won the Hunger Games. When I went in there, I thought I was going to die. I thought I would never see anybody again. Even if I did get out, I thought you wouldn't, you know, with the 'only one person survives' thing."

"You're tired, and you're not thinking straight. It's been a very long day. Why don't we go to bed, hmm?"

"No. I'm not tired, Peeta. Stop stalling, I want to talk about this. What if I stuff up tomorrow? We could both be dead within the week!"

"They aren't going to kill you."

"Yeah, you said 'you.' No, I don't think they'd kill their precious little Mockingjay either. Not in the literal sense. Coin could stamp on me, and crush me beneath the heel of her boot, until I'm flattened and destroyed, and willing to do whatever she asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Peeta, they could kill you."

He just stared at me for a minute. He didn't seem to be able to speak.

"No they couldn't. They would have to have a valid reason. How do you think the Districts would react, if Coin killed off one of the star-crossed lovers of District Twelve?"

Peeta and I both swivelled to face the door. There, standing in the doorway with a determined look on her face, was Prim. I was slightly annoyed t her for interrupting, but the feeling passed straight away. How could I be annoyed at my little sister?

"Sorry if I'm interrupting, but Mother and Haymitch both told me to come and get you. It's dinnertime, and you know how small the meals are here. You can't afford to miss one."

"It's ok, Prim, I'm fine." I turned to Peeta. "You can go if you want though. She's right, the meals are very small."

"I'll stay with you."

"You sure?"

"Very." I smiled at him.

"Okay then. Thanks Prim. Tell Mother and – did you say Haymitch?"

"Yeah, I think said he was worried that you would get too skinny. He said something about how Victors should look big and strong… especially if they have to fit into armour, and if they need the energy to go to an important meeting in the morning."

I groaned. Important meeting? That could only mean one thing. More Mockingjay stuff.

"No really Prim, I'm fine. Tell them that I don't want any food."

"And that I don't either." Added Peeta.

Prim nodded.

"Are you okay, though, Katniss? You looked a little pale after the announcement."

I forced a smile.

"Fine."

"Alright then…" Prim glanced at me uncertainly, then closed the door and was gone.

I sighed and leaned back into Peeta, unsure of how to restart the conversation. Oh well. He was right. We could talk in the morning.

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**I know that dragged a bit, but don't worry. Just a few more chapters... at most... and I'll be up to the different & more exciting bits! Yay!**


	9. Meeting

**Disclaimer: I'm quite flattered that anyone could think that I'm that smart, but, unfortunately… No. I'm not. **

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**Chapter 9**

Meeting

I wake up to a pounding on the door.

_Again._

Maybe I should just get Peeta to sleep in my room. Who cares if Mother and Prim are in there? They know I sleep with Peeta anyway. And having Prim Wake me is much more enjoyable than Haymitch. Anyone is more enjoyable than Haymitch in the morning. Since when was Haymitch a morning person?

"Peeta! Get up! Now! You too, Katniss! I know you're in there."

"Finally caught on, have you?" I groaned.

"Nope, I tried your room first. Now, Get up!"

I heard him stomp off down the hall, probably to try and wake up Finnick. Haymitch seems to have taken it upon himself to become the Victor's alarm clock.

Peeta sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Morning."

"Morning," He grinned. "Don't you just love to wake up to the sound of our beloved mentor's voice? Nicest wake up call I've ever had." I rolled my eyes, and hopped out of bed.

"I better go get changed before breakfast. Wonder why we had to get up today?"

"Probably Mockingjay stuff? Didn't Haymitch say we had an important meeting this morning?"

Did he? Oh yes, that's right.

"It better had be important. I don't want to have woken up at –" I glanced at the clock "-four in the-" I paused, looking at the clock again. "_Four in the morning?_ I am going to _kill_ him!"

"I'm sure it's very important. He wouldn't has risked the wrath of Katniss if it wasn't Now, go on, go get changed."

"Alright then. See you at breakfast."

~~0~~

"Katniss, Peeta, late _again._"

"Well, sorry, but we had to wait a bit to get our breakfast! Fair enough, I reckon, cause who wants to be awake at-" Peeta motioned me to be silent.

"Remember what we said last night?" He muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. I nodded stiffly. Then he spoke up a bit. "What Katniss means to say is, we're very sorry. We'll wake up a bit earlier next time, and wait until after the meeting to eat."

Coin opened her mouth to reply, but then Finnick walked in.

"Sorry I'm late," He announced, "Had a bit of a run in with the cooks. Apparently, they don't like to be woken up at ten past for in the morning, especially if they have just got back into bed after some-one else woke them up." He winked at me.

"Right well. Now that everyone's-"

"Sorry I'm late!" Beetee came hurrying in the door. "Haymitch only came to wake me up about five minutes ago, and then the cook-"

"Alright, alright! I get the picture! Now can we start on our meeting?"

No sooner had she said that, than Haymitch sprinted in, huffing like he'd just run a marathon.

"Sorry, sorry. It's not easy waking up everyone at four in the morning you know! Then, when I went to get breakfast-"

"Be quiet!" roared Coin. Haymitch jumped back, unsure of what he did wrong. "If I hear one more person talk about how the cooks don't like being woken up at this hour, they will be out of the room before you can say 'rebellion'! I don't care if you're all hungry! This isn't a picnic! If we want to destroy the Capitol, we have to put the cause before our stomachs! Understand?"

I was about to say that it's hard to think when you're starving – I know that from experience – but I thought better of it. I was surprised no-one else said anything though. Even Haymitch nodded glumly with the rest of us.

Then again, when I saw the murderous expression etched across Coin's features, I wasn't so surprised anymore.

"So, is there anybody else we have to wait for, or can we start?"

"No, I think that's it." Said Boggs.

"Right then." She turned to my, still angry, but she seemed like she was trying to get back into professional mode. "Katniss."

"Yes?"

"I saw the footage Cressida got of you yesterday. Plutarch was right, it is pretty good. _But…_"

I cringed, waiting for the onslaught.

"It was not what we asked of you. It seemed like every time you tried to say the lines that we had thought up for you, you made mistakes, again and again and again. So, we need to come up with a different way of getting our footage. Any proposals?" She looked at my old mentor, who had raised his hand. "Haymitch?"

"Well, as I have known Katniss the longest out everyone here, excluding Peeta, and I have tried to get her to act convincingly before, I know the trick to getting her to be perfect. I also know what we need to do."

"Go on," said Coin, intrigued. Her previous anger at Haymitch disappeared.

"Okay, I'll get straight to the point." Said Haymitch. "Everybody here knows that Katniss is a horrible actor." Everyone in the room nodded in agreement, while Peeta chuckled behind me. I scowled. "So I have come up with a plan. But, I have a feeling that not many people here will except my proposal; rather, you would chuck it out the window before I could even explain it. So, I would like to explain it first." He walked over to the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk, then turned to Coin. "If I may?" She nodded.

"Right then. I want everybody to think long and hard. Think about a moment when Katniss genuinely moved you. Not when Cinna made her beautiful. Not when Peeta made you like her. Not when you were awed by her archery. I want you to give me a list of moments when Katniss herself did something amazing." He looked at the group expectantly.

Everyone was silent.

My heart fell a little. Did everyone really hate me that much? Could no-one think of _one_ good thing about me?

Then Peeta spoke. Well, of course _he_ had something nice to say about me.

"When she sang Rue to her death. And then when she covered her in flowers. That was one of the most amazing and moving things I've ever seen."

I looked up, and saw Peeta smiling sadly down at me. I smiled back.

"Right. Sang to Rue, and covered her in flowers," said Haymitch, writing it on the board.

"When she tried her hardest to carry Mags through that mist in Quell." Said Finnick, his eyes a little red as he relived the memory.

"Tried to carry Mags." Muttered Haymitch.

"When she volunteered for Prim." There was a lot of muttering in agreement at Peeta's words.

"Perfect. What else?" Haymitch seemed excited, as if this was just what he wanted to happen.

"When she tried to fight the Jabberjays pretending to be her sister!"

"When she drugged Peeta so she could go get the medicine!"

"How she seemed sad when she found out Thresh was dead!"

"How she said she wouldn't let Peeta die for her after he gave her the locket!"

"How kept her family alive all those years."

"How she never let Peeta give up when she was healing his leg!"

People started mentioning loads of times now, and Haymitch was writing on the board like crazy. There were many moments with Peeta, Prim, a heaps from the Games, the Quell, the Victory Tour, and the berries. The Nightlock Berries, and the different things people thought they stood for. Freedom, the rebellion, love. Haymitch's board was soon full, and he held up a hand for silence.

"Now, I want every body to look at these moments. Tell me. What do they have in common?"

The room went silent. Then Finnick spoke up.

"They're Katniss'." He said. "They're all Katniss'. No one told her what to do or what to say."

"And there you have it." Said Haymitch, grinning triumphantly, walking back toward his spot.

"So.. you want to just let Katniss do her own thing?" asked Boggs.

"Pretty much."

Coin just stared at him in disbelief.

"Look, how about this. We send her to one of the districts. One of the ones where we are doing a recovery mission, rather than an attack. That way, she won't get hurt, but she can talk to the injured, show them she is fighting. Get some footage of her just talking to average people. We don't want to seem like Snow, who only talks to his highest officials, and ignores everybody else, unless they do something wrong. Show people that we care. This way, you get good footage for propos, Katniss won't be murdering us with her bad acting skills. A win-win situation, I might say."

"It's too dangerous! She could be killed! Then where will that lead us?"

"Katniss survived the Hunger Games," Peeta pointed out. Haymitch sighed as Coin turned her attention to Peeta.

"And what makes you think this is anything like the Hunger Games?" Peeta started to reply, but Coin cut him off. "This is not an arena filled with 24 frightened children. This is a country filled with thousands of murderous soldiers, ruled by the most evil man in the world. In the Hunger Games, the best weapon you could hope for is a flame thrower or a bow, and even then you need to know how to use them, and they are quite rare. In a war, people have guns. People have grenades. People have bombs. Planes. Missiles. What makes you think this will be _anything_ like the Hunger Games?" Peeta didn't reply. "I thought so."

Coin turned back to Haymitch, continuing her previous argument.

"What if she did die? Where would that leave us, with no Mockingjay?"

"Well, you're Mockingjay is pretty useless sitting here doing nothing! She can't act! She's not like Peeta! Unless you want the entire nation accusing you of fraud, maybe you should get her to do something real!"

Coin turned to look at me. I stared right back. How dare she think I was a weak little puppet? I wanted to get out there and do stuff! And not just because I'm bored with the whole make-up-and-camera thing. Haymitch was right. The people need me to _do_ something.

Coin turned back to Haymitch.

"Alright then. But we are starting small. Maybe District Eight; she can visit the hospital." She turned, and finally, for the first time since I walked in, she actually addressed me. Not nicely, mind.

"Katniss, you must do _everything_ that you are told. Obey every order. Do not step a toe out of line. Be kind to the people. Talk to them. Don't think yourself better than them. Bring yourself down to their level. Katniss, you are not better than them anyways, you are just a young girl that got lucky in a deadly game of chance. One mistake and you'll be carted back here, never be allowed out again, and the deal is off. Understood?"

I nodded. I hardly heard all of the insults and conditions in her words. She was letting me out.

Of course I had known that if I were to leave, I would be under strict supervision. But I didn't think she would let me leave.

"Okay then." Said Coin. "Now that's decided, this meeting is done. Katniss, you will meet back here at 5 o'clock this afternoon for further instructions from your mission leader. Understood?"

I nodded again.

"Good. That is all. Any questions regarding anything to do with this meeting?"

Peeta raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Can I go with Katniss?"

"Yes, you will go with her. You also need to attend the meeting. As do you, Odair." Finnick nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yes actually," said Finnick, raising his hand. "Why did we have to get here at four in the morning? Some of us need our beauty sleep you know." He glanced at me, and I scowled at him. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. "Couldn't we have at the meeting at, say, eight?"

Coin glared at him, muttered something about 'possible eavesdroppers' and stormed out. Finnick grinned.

"Right then, who's for sleep?"

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**Yeah, so this was short and boring, but it had to happen. Wrote it in school when I was bored, so sorry if it's a bit bad. Ah well. Yay, exciting chapter next! Finally!**


	10. Hospital

**Hurray! Chapter Ten! Three updates in one week! This is... different!**

**Disclaimer: Am I one of the best writer's in the world? No, didn't think so. Therefore, I don't own it. **

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**Chapter 10**

Hospital

I stared out at the destruction. It was quite similar to what Twelve looked like from the air, actually, just not as bad. Eight was only hit by a few bombs, just to scare and severely injure the population, rather than completely decimating it.

I sigh and turn from the window, looking at my companions. There are eight of us in all. Of course, we are not the only ones going to Eight: there are a group of soldiers going as well to do real work. We are just heading down to do the propos.

Peeta and Finnick are talking on a bench in the middle of the small compartment. Cressida and her assistant, Messalla, a slim young man with many body piercings, are fiddling with their equipment. The head of our little group is Boggs. I was glad that he'd be with us; even though he seems to be in Coin's pocket, he's nice enough, and seems to have his priorities in the right order. He also seems smart, unlike some of the other soldiers I've seen.

The seventh person in our group is Haymitch. As it was his idea, he has been allocated controller. He is the brains of this mission. I have to wear an earpiece so he can talk to me at all times. I don't really like the idea: I prefer to be able to make my own decisions. But, since he'll be staying in the hovercraft, I figure he'll have a better view of what is going on.

"So, we go in there, find the Commander…"

Oh yeah, the eight member of our group.

"…Go into the hospital…"

I always get angry whenever I look at him. He's too young. Way too young.

I know why Coin sent him. It's to keep me in line. Because, clearly, it is not enough to have the boy that I have felt closest to in my life in danger. It's not enough that one of my best friends is here with me. Not enough that there are two people who don't seem to understand the severity of the situation here, just to get some footage. And it's most certainly not enough that they force my mentor, the man that has saved my life way to many times to count, who has watched hundreds of kids die, come and see a little more blood.

"… all that should get their spirits up…"

Nor is it enough that my very best friend, my brother in all but blood, is being held prisoner, probably being tortured.

"… because that's all they need…"

No.

"… A little inspiration…"

They have to send Rory in as well.

"…When they see Katniss…"

He's only thirteen. _Thirteen_. I don't understand how Coin's mind works. She refused to send me in because it was 'too dangerous.' Well, I agree with Peeta. I survived the Hunger Games. I can deal with this. But Rory…

"… very injured. But don't be sick…"

Well, Rory's young. Sure, he's had to watch the Hunger Games his entire life. Every kid has. So it's not like he hasn't seen the gruesome stuff. But he's seen it on T.V. I know how different it is from seeing it on T.V too seeing it in real life. It's like… well, I guess it's like watching the footage of a storm, what they call a Hurricane, in District Four. You see the destruction. You see the people struggling to rebuild their houses. But you don't understand the magnitude of what it feels like until you actually see it.

I know, I haven't experienced a Hurricane. But, I got those feelings when I went back to Twelve. Everyone in Thirteen gives their condolences, but, they don't get it. All of the people that actually witnessed the bombing of Thirteen are now dead. They have the records, they have the scars. But not the memories.

"…find the Commander…"

I know that I'm young too. But I was thrown in without a choice. Rory is too young to witness this. Coin has a twisted mind. I understand that she is doing what is best for the rebellion. I understand that one child is not as important as the rest of Panem. But try telling that to the child.

"… hospital. Visit the people-"

"Will you stop it! I understand, we're all nervous! But we all know the plan! It's simple! Find Paylor. Go to the hospital. Film Katniss with the injured people. Film Peeta and Finnick with Katniss with the injured people. Leave. Short, sweet and simple. Now, lie down and find something else to do!"

Rory started shaking. I glared at Haymitch.

"Stop it. Don't you think he's nervous enough already?"

"Yeah, I do. That's why I helped him see how easy it is to just-"

"Well it's not helping!"

"Katniss, I'm fine, really, I just, I just want to do something, you know? I need to. Now Gales out there… I just have to do something to help him! I thought I couldn't, because I'm too young, but then Coin came. She told me that she understood how I was feeling, and that she thought it would be good for me to come and help protect you, seeing as Gale isn't here. But then I said that you don't need protecting, and she said that I could come anyways, and do something to help my brother!"

"I know, Rory, and I'm proud of you, but don't you think it would be better to-"

"Coin also wanted the boy to come, sort of as Gales representative. Even though he was never in the Games, the whole of Panem knows Gale, from the interviews, and now from the Capitol broadcasts. But-"

"Broadcasts? _Broadcasts?_ As in, plural? There were _more_?"

"Well, er, anyway, the point was, Rory," Haymitch hurriedly changed the subject, glancing at a fuming Boggs. "You are right to be a little nervous, but tone it down, okay? Stop repeating the plan, or you'll make Finnick nervous, too. And believe me, you do not want to do that."

"Hey!"

Rory grinned at Finnick, and Finnick motioned for him to join in with his and Peeta's conversation.

I stayed and glared at Haymitch. He glanced at Boggs, and when he saw that he was watching Rory, Haymitch pulled me closer to him.

"I'll fill you in later, I promise." He whispered. I was about to protest when the hovercraft jerked. We had landed; I hadn't even noticed our descent, I was so caught up in our argument about Rory.

"Alright everybody, get ready," called Boggs.

I walked to the others and grabbed Peeta's hand. He smiled at me and started to rub soothing circles into the back of my hand.

"Before we leave, I have to give you all something." Boggs reached into his pocket and pulled out a container of purple pills. "We named these Nightlock in your honour, Katniss. When swallowed, they will kill in less than a second, and you will feel no pain. Here." He handed one out to each of us, and showed us how to put it on a tiny pocket on our shoulders. I could twist my neck and bite through the soft material, even if my hands were tied behind my back.

"But, Why would anybody want to take poison?" Asked Rory.

"If you're caught, and there is no means of escape. We cannot let some information you all know reach the wrong ears."

"But I would never-" started Rory.

"You might think you wouldn't, son, and I'm sure you're right," said Boggs, "But once they've tortured you enough, you won't be you anymore. Just look at your brother." Boggs suddenly stopped, looking uncomfortable, sure that this was the wrong thing to say. I grabbed Rory's hand with my free one, and rubbed it, just as Peeta was doing to me.

"It's alright," I said. "He's strong. He won't give up. We're going to beat these monsters and bring him back, okay?"

Rory nodded, determination etched across his face.

"Right then team," said Boggs in mock enthusiasm, "Let's get this show on the road!"

~~0~~

"Brace yourself," said Paylor sadly as she stood outside a factory. Paylor was the Commander of District Eight's recovery program. We had been introduced a few minutes ago, after we had disembarked the hovercraft. "The people in here are in a terrible condition."

Everybody nodded. I felt a little ill. I had always run away whenever anybody came to our house in need of healing, back before I volunteered for the Games…

I squeezed Peeta's hand.

"Stay with me."

"Always."

When we walk through the factory doors, I am assaulted by a wave of putrid, warm, moist air, thick with the scent of decaying flesh and vomit. I swayed on my feet, almost ready to faint. I tightened my grip on Peeta, and heard him wince.

Then I saw Paylor, watching me out of the corner of her eye, trying to see what I'm made of, and whether or not Coin was right to count on me.

Then I remember why I am here. I am here to inspire these people, these people who have nothing left. They all look up to me. If they see me fainting and vomiting just at the sight of them, what will that do to their confidence? What will they think of me then?

I take a deep breath, and force myself to shove the stench to the back of my mind. This is better than being in the games. I am much better off than the people in there. I'll be in and out in a matter of hours. They'll be in there for who knows how long. And not just that. They're injured so badly, they're close to death. District Thirteen has advanced medical technology, but not as advanced as the Capitol. And they have nowhere near enough for everybody. Nor do they have the means to get it out here.

I let go of Peeta's hand, and took a step inside the ware house.

What I saw will never leave me.

The whole place was packed with rows and rows of beds, all full of people; sometimes two to a bed. In the aisles between the beds, still more people are lying on the floor. Rebel medics are hurrying around, trying to help where they could. The air is full of groans and screams. Children are crying for their parents, husbands and wives are moaning as they watch their other half slowly slip away from them.

I steel myself, and force myself to move between the beds, stepping around the prone forms on the ground. I don't get far, before a hand reaches out and grips my arm. I look at the person, and I see a woman. She doesn't look much older than me. Maybe eighteen or nineteen. She looks like she was once beautiful, but there is no evidence left now. Her skin clings to her bones, and her brown hair is knotted and matted in blood. But that's not all.

Her leg is covered in bloodied bandages, covered in flies. She has a terrible burn on the side of her face, and It looks like her left arm has been amputated; all that is left is a stump, and it too is covered in bandages.

The one part of her face that still looks alive are her eyes. I think they were dead, but as soon as she looked at my face, they lit up and sparkled, a bright, bright blue, similar to Peeta's, only a little deeper.

"Katniss? Is that really you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Happiness flashed across her face, mingled with hope. Almost like the sound of my voice can wash away her pain.

"We thought you had died! But you're here! You're actually here!" Her eyes focused on something behind me, and then she gasped. "And Peeta too! We thought you'd both died!"

"We got pretty banged up, but we got better." I said. Peeta walked closer to her and stroked her cheek.

"Just like you will."

She grinned.

"Wait until I tell my brother!" She twisted on her bed, grimacing in pain, then calls to someone a few beds away. "Eddy! Eddy! It's them! They're here! Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!"

A young boy forces himself up and struggles over to us. He looks about twelve years old. The whole side of his face is covered in bandages. Although he is clearly in pain as he stumbles towards us, the sides of his mouth are turned up in a grin.

"Look Eddy! It's them!"

The boy nodded.

"I see them!"

Peeta walked towards him then crouched down in front of him, holding out his hand.

"Hey, I'm Peeta. What's your name?"

The boy's eyes lit up with amazement, as if he couldn't believe Peeta was actually talking to him. He soon got over it though, and took Peeta's hand.

"Eddy Mallowitz. This," he motioned to the woman, "is my sister, Tina."

"Nice to meet you Eddy." Said Peeta, smiling. The boy was staring past Peeta by this stage.

"Is that… Finnick Odair?" Peeta nodded and grinned.

"Yeah."

"How many Victors did you bring?"

"Oh, just four of us."

"Four?" Eddy glanced around as if another victor was about to jump out at him. "Who else?"

"Haymitch Abernathy. He's outside, talking to the people who are helping with the recovery," lied Peeta. I knew what he was doing. He didn't want the kid to think Haymitch was shunning them or something.

"Oh, okay." Said Eddy. "That's probably a good thing. We don't want him falling over all the people in here." He said with a smile.

We just stared. This kid looked like he'd had his ear sliced off or something, yet here he was, making jokes at Haymitch's expense. Then we all chuckled.

"Nice one, kid," Said Finnick, coming out from behind us. "I think we'll het along just fine."

If Eddy looked awed, that was nothing to Tina. She just about jumped out of bed, despite her state. I smiled at her.

"Finnick Odair?" she shrieked.

A few people turned to stare at her now. It seemed like they had been in so much pain that they had missed our conversation. But her shrill exclamation had caught a few people's attention. Finnick had now taken Peeta's place, crouching on the ground, so Peeta and I were fairly taller than the rest of the people around us.

The people that saw us passed on the message, and soon everyone was calling out to us, wanting to just touch us, to prove to themselves that we were alive.

"Katniss! Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!"

We left Tina and Eddy, who were now chatting to Rory, and walked through the hospital. We grasped their hands, patted their foreheads. We wished that they would get better, just saying hello. They didn't need an inspirational speech. They just needed to be shown that we care.

After a few hours, and what seems like three laps around the factory, we end up back near the door, next to Tina and Eddy. Rory had felt a little ill, but he refused to leave the building; he did not want to insult anyone or feel like he was weak. He had stood talking to Eddy for the whole time, and they had become friends in the short time we were there.

Peeta, Finnick and I waved to the masses of injured people, said goodbye to Tina, pried Rory away from Eddy, and went back out to meet Boggs.

"That was brilliant!" Exclaimed Boggs.

Well, I didn't run. Looking back on it, I didn't even feel slightly nauseated after that initial blast.

"We got some brilliant stuff in there!" exclaimed Cressida, while Messalla bobbed his head. I had forgotten they were filming me.

But what she said bothered me. I know that was the reason we came. But the whole time I was in there, I was feeling horrible. I was the one that started this. I mean, sure, the rebellion has been building up for a while now, but I can't help but think that if I had just toughened up and killed myself in the arena, and Peeta had lived, none of this would have happened.

Those people had nothing, they were in pain, they were dying, and yet they smiled when they saw me. Why? It's my fault. I closed my eyes and remembered the group of injured men in the back of the factory. They had tried to fight the peacekeepers, and many of them had died. I remembered what they told me.

"_Katniss. We fought for you._"

But why?

~~0~~

We were sitting in the shade of a small tree, on a hill just away from the town. We had come here to eat something in peace before we went back down to get a bit of footage of us in the rubble.

"I don't think I should have come."

I glanced at Rory.

"Why?"

"All those people… They were happy when they saw you. When they saw me, they hissed and said Gale was a traitor. I don't think I helped."

I was lost for words. Even they thought Gale was a traitor? Couldn't they see he didn't mean it?

Luckily, Peeta came to the rescue.

"Of course you did. You had to be there. You helped that boy, Eddy. He listened to you. You made a few minutes of his life a lot less painfull. Don't you think that's worth something?"

He nodded.

"I… I guess so."

"See? Now, how about, while we film stuff outside, you can go and talk to Eddy again? How about that?" Rory smiled, and looked out over to the roof of the large factory.

"That'd be great."

Right at that moment, we all heard a screaming fill the air. We looked up.

A single jet plane was shooting across the sky. As it passed us, I saw the Capitol seal on the tail.

"Bomber!" I gasped. We all jumped up just as it dropped a bomb.

A bomb that landed on the factory. 


	11. Bombs

**Disclaimer: Just look at the other chapters, and you'll know I don't own it. **

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**Chapter 11**

Bombs

We all watched in horror as the factory exploded, fire and debris raining down everywhere. Screams filled the air as people ran for shelter, or cried out to their loved ones.

I felt strangely empty. There were hundreds of people in that factory. Hundreds. And now they were gone. All of those people that I saw, that talked to me. And Tina and Eddy. They were just gone.

Rory was next to me, his skin pale and his eyes wide. He let out a strangled sound, then stumbled forward.

"Rory! You have to stay here! There could be more!" I rushed over to grab his arm, and he leaned against me. Boggs was looking at the sky, but the others were just staring at the factory. I jumped as I heard Haymitch's voice. Then I remembered the communication device he had forced me to wear.

"Boggs! We can't land, there are more bombers coming. We have to leave to a safe distance; thirteen doesn't have enough hovercrafts to be able to spare this one in a fight that we can't win. Stay where you are, don't leave the cover of those trees. We don't believe the Capitol knows you are there. Just stay low, we'll get you when the bombing is over."

"Copy that."

"And Katniss. Listen to Boggs and follow orders. I know that's hard for you, but it's not just your life you'll save by staying safe." I was about to make a snide comeback, but thought better of it as I saw Rory's face.

We were all looking at the sky now. It was clear. No more planes.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Rory. I frowned.

"You heard Haymitch. We stay here."

"So we're not even going to help?"

"We can't."

"Yes we can! We can get people out of the rubble! Even one more pair of hands would do! Look! There aren't any more planes in the sky! Let's go help!"

I wrapped my arms around Rory, trying to hold him in. But boy, he's gotten strong!

Peeta came to rescue, gripping Rory's arms and forcing him to look at him.

"Rory. You can't help him, okay? He wouldn't want you to."

"How can you-"

"You saw what he was like. He was one of the kindest people you'll meet, I'm sure. He wouldn't want you to go back down there and hurt yourself for a lost cause!"

"Stop saying 'was'! Say 'is'! He might still be alive! He might be buried under the rubble, just let me go help him!"

"Rory, look at it!" I yelled, frustrated. "Look at the factory! It's gone! It's not even there anymore! He's dead, just accept it!"

Peeta glared at me, and Finnick came behind me, pulling me away from Rory while Peeta kept speaking.

"Rory, you have to stay safe. There are other people down there helping, but _you_ have to stay safe!"

"Why? What makes me anymore important than those people down there! And don't say I'm too young! The Capitol sends children to the Hunger Games when they are younger than me!"

"Think of your Mother. She already has one child in the hands of the Capitol; how do you think she'll feel if she loses you, hmm? And what about your younger brother and sister? Do you want them to lose you? And what about Gale? He's probably wishing he was dead right now, but there'd be one thing helping him hold on. The thought of his family. You, your mother, Katniss, Posy, Vick. When we win this war, we'll get him back, but how do you think he'll feel when he comes out of there to go back to his family and find you dead?"

Rory was shaking with sobs now. I haven't seen him this upset since his father died. He was always strong, trying to help his family in whatever way he could, even though he was so young. I'd been teaching him how to use the bow before the Quell – Gale didn't have much time, working in the mines – he was so determined to do whatever he could.

But now he was clinging to Peeta, shaking horribly. I can't believe I said what I did before. I'd forgotten that Rory had made friends with Eddy this morning. He was like Prim. Even though he had only known the boy for a few hours, they had become fast friends.

Was it only this morning? It already feels like a month ago.

After a couple of minutes, Rory calmed down a bit, and Boggs decided that we should go further into the trees. It was only a thin band of trees, but it would still be safer further away from the town.

We had only walked a couple of meters when Peeta called out. The group of us immediately stopped, and I turned back to see what was happening.

Rory was running away from us, back towards the town.

"Rory! Come back!" I yelled. Suddenly, the air filled with the screeching of jet engines. The bombers were coming back. "Rory!"

I didn't give it a second thought. I just sprinted after him, screaming his name, trying to reach him in time. I could hear Peeta yelling and pounding after me, but he couldn't run as fast as me with his bad leg. I could also hear Haymitch yelling obscenities in my ear. Not slowing, I reached up and ripped the stupid device out of my ear. He wasn't helping much.

I'm a fast runner, that's true, but Rory had a head start. He was about fifty meters away when he ducked in between the buildings of the town. When I reached the corner, he was gone. Yelling in frustration, I started running in any direction, the only thought in my head determination to get Rory out alive.

Peeta came up behind me and grabbed my waist.

"Katniss, stop! We have to get out of here! The other soldiers are evacuating the town, they'll find him, don't worry! Come on, we have to leave!" I could hardly hear him. I struggled against his arms, still yelling for Rory. I had to get him back. Peeta was right; the Hawthorne family would be torn to shreds if Rory didn't come home.

Soon enough, Finnick caught up to us, and the two of them dragged me, kicking and screaming, up the hill and back to the band of trees. We just made it when the first bombs started to rain down.

As I saw the bombs raining down from the sky, I relaxed. A fog clouded my mind, and I realised what I needed to do.

The moment I relaxed, Peeta loosened his grip on me. I jumped out of his arms, and ran back to the edge of the trees. I stopped before I left the cover, though, and pulled an arrow from my quiver.

When he had given me my bow, Beetee had told me that the arrows were not normal arrows. Some of them were, but only one third. Another third would catch fire when released. And the last third would explode when they reached their target. It was one of these arrows that I drew.

I nocked my arrow, and took aim. My mind was calm, completely focused on the target. I let the arrow fly.

Everything seemed to slow down. Nothing happened. Cursing, I grabbed another arrow.

Then a deafening explosion ran through the air.

I looked back up to see a jet with a massive hole blasted in its wing soaring down to the earth, and crashing on the ground. Miraculously, it missed all the buildings.

I felt a murderous grin appear on my face, and aimed once more. I was barely aware of Peeta, Finnick and Boggs beside me, following my lead and shooting bullets up at the jets. This was what I wanted to be doing. This made me feel useful. I was actually doing something that could help bring down the Capitol.

Time seemed meaningless as we stood there, shooting up at the jets, I with my bow, the others with their guns. Soon, we were joined by a couple or other soldiers who had gotten out of the town. When the sound of gunfire stopped, I was momentarily stunned. What had happened? Had they all run out of ammo? However, when I looked up at the sky, I realised that that was not the case. The jets were all gone.

I shook my head, and stared out at the town, taking in the destruction. The bombs had done a lot of damage, but so had the jets that had crashed down. But there didn't seem to be as many jets on the ground as I remembered there being in the sky. I shrugged it off; they were from the Capitol, what could you expect?

Then, a thought registered in my mind. I dropped my bow, and raced back toward the smoking town, a name on my lips.

"_Rory._"

Peeta ran beside me, no longer trying to hold me back now that the danger was gone. We ran through the decimated streets, yelling at the top of our voices. The rest of the soldiers that had made it out of the town followed, and started pulling people out the rubble. Paylor, who I vaguely remembered being near me during the fight, was yelling out orders for all the wounded to be taken to the large field to the west. But I didn't hear any of this.

I ran to where to hospital had stood less than an hour ago, sure that was where Rory would have gone. When I got there, I gasped. All that was left was a crater.

I'm not sure what I had expected. I saw the bomb hit the factory; I saw it explode. I guess I expected to see a shell of a building, similar to what I saw in Twelve. But there was no evidence that factory had been there at all, other than a giant hole in the ground, filled with a bit of wood and concrete.

"Rory," I whispered. Then, I resumed my yelling. "Rory! Rory!"

I jumped down into the crater and started shifting through the splinters.

"Rory!"

"Katniss?" I spun, trying to find the source of the voice. At first I thought it was Peeta, immediately discarded the idea. The voice was completely different. It was younger, and hoarser. "Katniss? Are you alright?"

And then I saw him. Crouched in a pile of wood. I gasped and ran to him.

"Don't you dare do that to me again!"

"Sorry," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. I stared at his face for a moment, then, with Peeta's help, pulled him out of the crater.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"Fine Katniss." Again, his voice was empty. I frowned. Shouldn't he be scared? Or sad, maybe. Even happy at surviving? He must have hid in the crater, knowing that the jets wouldn't bomb the same place twice. But I suppose everyone reacts differently. I was about say that we should get back to the hovercraft, when Peeta started dragging us to the field, where the injured where being taken. I looked at him questioningly – we weren't injured enough to deserve the attention. He shrugged.

"I told Finnick and Boggs we'd meet them at the field when we found Rory." I nodded.

However, we were only about halfway to the field, when Boggs ran up to us.

"There are more jets coming, we have to get out of here!"

"More?" Rory asked, his voice now filled with emotion. Fear.

"Yes. It seems they were just waiting for us to come in and help before they come back. Now hurry! We have to get-" before he could finish, a jet flew overhead, dropping a bomb not far from where we were standing.

I gasped as the shock wave hit us, pushing us over with an intense burst of heat. My ears were throbbing, much like they were after I blew up the career supplies back in the arena. I ran my hand over my ear, wincing as it came into contact with wet, sticky blood. I tried to stand up, but my balance seemed affected.

Someone grabbed me and shook me.

He pulled me around so I was facing him, and I saw Finnick, his mouth moving as he yelled. But I couldn't hear him. He seemed to realise this, and he just stared pulling me away. I shook my head, and tried to pull away.

"No! We have to go back! Peeta and Rory are back there!" Finnick pointed in front of us, and I saw Peeta and Boggs supporting Rory between them, stumbling along.

The jets continued to drop bombs, and the streets were soon full of fire. Soon, I regained my balance, but I still couldn't hear a thing. Finnick and I just about crawled through the streets, being knocked over every time a bomb hit the ground. I was cursing myself for leaving my bow up in the trees, but I doubt I would've been able to shoot in that state anyway.

Eventually, we made it to the field. Peeta came over and wrapped his arms around me. He seemed to say something, then kissed me on the forehead, unwrapped his arms and started to pull me in another direction. I followed him until I realized that once again Rory was no-where to be seen.

I pulled away from Peeta and tried tell him to go back, but he shook his head and kept dragging me away.

Then the world erupted in flames.

~~0~~

"Will she be able to hear?"

"Yes, we have fixed her eardrums. She should be able to hear perfectly when she wakes up."

"And when will that be?"

"Any moment now."

"Oh, thank goodness. I was getting worried."

"Don't. She'll be fine."

"Can she hear us?"

"Possibly, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Katniss, can you hear me? Your going to be fine."

I recognized that voice. Peeta. So, he survived then.

I felt a wave of relief fill my body. But there was still a small dark hole left behind. I still didn't know if _everyone_ made it out alive.

"She might not be able to hear you, you know, Peeta. Just 'cause you love her doesn't give your voice magical powers, like some old fairy-story."

"I never thought it did." I can visualize Peeta's glare.

"My beautiful voice, on the other hand…" So, it sounds like Finnick made it too. I felt my mouth curve up in a smile.

"Hey, look! Katniss, are you okay?" I groaned.

"Peeta?"

"Aha! See, I told you! She woke up at the sound of my voice!" I opened my eyes to see Finnick grinning and Peeta victoriously, and Peeta rolling his eyes. There was a long gash from his right temple running down to his jaw. I shuddered.

"What happened?" Finnick immediately sobered up, and Peeta took my hand.

"They did a lot of damage. Almost the entire district was wiped out…"

I closed my eyes and shuddered. Yet another district wiped of the face of the country. Now, Panem is down to ten.

"… We just managed to get far away from the field when it was bombed. It seems that the first wave was just a taster, and that they were planning on coming back to bomb again as soon as the rescue teams moved in, causing more destruction than otherwise possible."

I looked up into Peeta's blue eyes.

"How many people got out?"

"Not many. There's us, obviously. Quite a few soldiers and a couple of civilians that managed to get away from the town. They didn't hit the district as hard as they hit Twelve, so a few managed to escape. They've all been airlifted here."

"What about… everyone from our group?"

Peeta looked at me sadly.

"We all made it." I felt the breath I didn't realise I'd been holding huff out of my chest. "Boggs is with Coin right now, and Cressida and Messalla are editing the material they got with Beetee." I had forgotten I was being filmed. That time in the hospital felt so long ago… "Finnick and I got a bit banged up, but we're fine now," continued Peeta, motioning from the gash on his face to Finnick's arm, which I realised was in a sling. "And your ear's were burst and your knees pretty bruised from the crawling, but other than that, you're fine too. They just had to keep you out for a bit so they could fix your ears." I nodded.

"And Rory?"

"He was closer to the field when they bombed it. Don't worry, he's going to be fine," he said quickly as my expression morphed into one of horror, "But he's going to have to stay in the hospital for a while. He got some pretty bad burns."

I nodded again.

"How's Hazelle?"

"She's fine. Well, she's definitely been better," winced Peeta, "But she's holding up. Far better than I expected."

"Yeah, she's strong."

"Their whole family is," whispered Peeta, looking into my eyes. I knew he meant Gale. He's trying to make feel better, like always. I smiled.

"That they are."

~~0~~

The next few days past in a haze. I was so worried about everything that I hardly noticed what I was doing. Rory stayed in the hospital. His entire left side had been burnt. Not severely enough for it to have long-lasting effects, but he couldn't leave his bed, and wouldn't be able to for a long time.

Although I felt horrible – his being in Eight in the first place was practically my fault – I was almost glad that Rory would have to stay in bed for a while. It meant that Coin could not send him out on more missions.

About three days after I woke up, Peeta and I were called to Control. I had no idea what it was about; surely they wouldn't send us out again so soon after the last mission.

"Maybe they want us to film more propos?"

"I doubt it. Remember what they said last time? I'm hopeless."

We walked into the room to find everybody clustered around a T.V.

"Peeta, Katniss." Coin nodded in greeting. "We were just about to watch the propos Cressida, Messalla, Beetee and Fulvia have put together from the material shot of you lot in Eight. Care to join us?"

"Do we have a choice?" muttered Peeta. But we both walked over to stand by the T.V.

Cressida and Messalla were quite proud of themselves. They had reason to be. Watching the footage, I realized that they must have been with me the entire time; while I was shooting down jets, while we were searching for Rory, while we were running through the fire. Even though most of that time, apart from when I was shooting the jets, I was terrified, the footage has been edited to make it seem like I was bravely fighting. They show me shoot an arrow, slow down the arrow's path, watch the jets explode, and then fall to earth, the capitol seal on the tail shining in the sun. They show me digging in the rubble, then acting he hero as I dragged Rory through the rubble and smoldering ash. They have made me look like a hero.

When the propo has finished, Cressida and Messalla, as well as Peeta and I, receive astounding applause. So, of course, Fulvia puts it on again.

About half way through the second showing, the screen flickers, and suddenly we are no longer looking at an image of Peeta, Finnick and I running through down a street as houses explode around us, but an image of Caesar Flickerman and Gale Hawthorne.

What Haymitch said on the hovercraft came back to me.

"_Coin also wanted the boy to come, sort of as Gales representative. Even though he was never in the Games, the whole of Panem knows Gale, from the interviews, and now from the Capitol broadcasts. But-"_

"_Broadcasts? _Broadcasts_? As in, plural? There were _more_?"_

"_Well, er, anyway, the point was, Rory," Haymitch hurriedly changed the subject, glancing at a fuming Boggs. "You are right to be a little nervous, but tone it down, okay? Stop repeating the plan, or you'll make Finnick nervous, too. And believe me, you do not want to do that."_

"_Hey!" _

_Rory grinned at Finnick, and Finnick motioned for him to join in with his and Peeta's conversation. _

_I stayed and glared at Haymitch. He glanced at Boggs, and when he saw that he was watching Rory, Haymitch pulled me closer to him._

"_I'll fill you in later, I promise." He whispered._

But he never did. I had wondered why. Why should they be holding this information from me? He's my best friend! It had seemed like Haymitch had wanted to tell me. What had made him change his mind?

Well, now I knew.

I stared at the screen, pushing through the crowd until I was right in front the T.V. Ignoring the protests from around the room, I placed my hand over the screen.

"Oh no," I whispered.

Gale was skinny. I know he'd never not been skinny – I mean, he lived in the Seam! But now, he's just skin and bones. His skin looks waxy, and his eyes are sunken in their sockets. His body is mostly covered by long clothing, and they've put makeup on him to try and pretty him up, but I can still see the waxy complexion and the dark rings under his eyes. But the worst part… There is a gash on his face, similar to Peeta's only on the other side of his face. Under the cuff of his shirt I can see dark bruises. And every happy doubt I might have had about him is washed away in an instant.

Gale has been tortured.

My knees felt weak, and I probably would have collapsed if Peeta had not come from behind and wrapped his arms around my waist, supporting my weight. I could hardly hear Caesar's questions, and Gales answers. I did, however, get the gist that he was continuously begging for a ceasefire. All I could do was stare at his haggard appearance. But I snap to attention when I hear my name mentioned.

"How do you feel about the rumors that Katniss Everdeen is shooting propaganda for the rebel forces?" asked Caesar.

"Angry. She doesn't understand what she's getting into. The rebels have probably sweet-talked her. Or maybe they're holding her sister Prim, as hostage. She loves Prim More than anything, and would do anything to save her. Everybody knows that." I glared at the screen, anger rushing through my veins. I wasn't angry at Gale. Oh no. I was in a rage against the Capitol. I know that they are the ones making Gale say those things.

Muttering was filling up the room, but I didn't care. I just stared at the screen, wishing that I could reach through and pluck Gale to safety.

Suddenly, Coin's voice rang out.

"Get her out of here." I froze. Was she talking about me? "Get her out _now!_"

I struggled and yelled as they dragged me from the room, chucking me on the ground. One of the soldiers muttered something that sounded like "It's for your own good," then they walked back in the room, locking the door.

I smashed against it with my fists, tears streaming down my face. After a few seconds, it opened, and I stood back in shock. However, only one person came out, then the door was shut again.

It was Peeta.

I wrapped my arms around him, and cried into his shoulder. Peeta seemed at loss of what to do. I hardly ever cried. He just stood there and held onto me, unsure of what to say. What could he say, really? That Gale was going to be okay? Because he clearly wasn't.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"What for?"

"For everything. I'm hurting you, all the time. I know that-"

"Shh. It's fine. Just calm down, alright? You're not yourself right now."

"No, Peeta, I-" I paused as a man came sprinting into the hall, panting as if he'd run over from the other side of the district.

"Is… President... Coin… in… there…?" he panted out. I nodded, and the man rushed to the door, banging on it as hard as he could. When he got no response, he yelled, "Code Three! Code Three! Bombers, incoming!"

The door burst open, and people started flooding out.

"Code Three?" Barked Coin, worry etched across her face.

"Yes… incoming… bombers… Capitol… ten minutes…" everybody froze, then erupted into chaos. Coin was yelling out orders as she sprinted down the hall, and rounded a corner. A couple of seconds later, her voice sounded on the loud speaker.

"I need every one's undivided attention. This is an emergency. Code Three has been initiated. Everyone is to report to their pre-assigned bunkers. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill."

I half expected to hear screams ring out along the corridor, but they did not. The people here in District Thirteen had been well trained for a crisis. People started hurrying through the corridors, without their belongings, just children and family members, rushing down toward the bunkers. Peeta and I followed the crowd, worry running through me. Peeta seemed to be able to sense it.

"Katniss, they'll be fine. Prim's a smart girl, she knows what to do." I nodded. He was right.

When we reached the thick doors to the bunkers, and found our allocated room, which would be shared between my mother, Prim, Peeta and I, Prim was already sitting on her bed. I rushed over to her and swept her up into a hug.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I sighed, running the day's events through my mind. It had all been too much. First Gale, now this. I clutched her tighter, and decided not to answer her question. Instead, I asked;

"Where's mother?"

"She's helping the other medics bring the patients down. They should be nearly done; when they tested it, they found that they could do it in seven minutes." Almost as soon as she finished her sentence, mother walked in.

"Got them all down here," She said with a smile.

"Rory?" Asked Prim. Mother nodded, and Prim sighed with relief. I would have passed this off as worry for a friend, but then her cheeks turned slightly pink. I smirked at Peeta, and he winked. Prim flushed deeper.

"So, everybody's down here then?" asked Peeta.

"Most people. They're just running around to see if there is anybody left. Prim's face turned from pink to white in a second. In the next second she was out of the door.

"Prim!" I screamed.

I ran after her, but when I got to the gate, the guards wouldn't let me through.

"But my sister!" I yelled.

"I'm sorry! She'll have to make it on her own. There are people out there rounding them up, she won't get far."

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that she'd run back fast. I tried to think of why she might have gone back. Then I swore.

That cat! That stupid cat! She'd gone back for Buttercup!

I felt the Blood rush out of my face as I heard Coins voice through the loud speaker.

"The jets will be here in one minute. Anybody who is not in the bunker by then will have to face their chances. I repeat. The door to the bunker will be locked in one minute. It will not be reopened until twenty four hours after the last bomb has fell. There will be no exceptions."

"Prim!" I screeched, running at the door again. Finnick grabbed me and held onto me. "Prim!"

"I'll get her Katniss," said Peeta, staring at me, a horrified look on his face. Peeta loves Prim too. He took a step forward, toward the door.

I felt my stomach drop through my feet. I can't lose Peeta.

"No." I said, grabbing his arm.

"Katniss-"

"No! You promised you wouldn't leave me!" Peeta looked at me, and sighed. "Please!" There were tears in my eyes now, for the second time that day. "Stay with me."

Peeta nodded as Coins voice rang out once more.

"Thirty seconds until the doors close! Get to the bunker immediately!"

"Prim! I screamed once more. "Prim!" My mother was hurrying to me now, her face sheet white. "Prim, Hurry!"

I jumped out of Finnick's arms to head once more for the door. Peeta scooped me up and pulled me to face him.

"Don't leave me Katniss." I looked into his eyes, and saw that they too were full of tears. I nodded at him then turned to face the door once more. The guards were preparing to close it.

"Please," I whispered. They looked up at me. "Please, wait." They looked at me sadly, and one of them shook their head. "Do you have a younger sister?" They both shook their heads again. "Do you have a daughter?" They paused.

"Yes," whispered one.

"Do you love her?"

"More than anything."

"What would you do if she was out there?"

"Honestly? I would be doing what you're doing right now."

I nodded, and ripped my gaze from the door, pressing my face against Peeta's chest.

"Maybe… we could hold it for a little." I looked back up to see the guard's eyes full of tears, just like the rest of us. "I'll take full responsibility when Coin finds out." He paused, "But you have to understand, that the moment the fist bomb hits, we have to close the doors." I nodded.

"Of course. Thank you so much." I tried to fight the sobs that were threatening to escape.

"I met your sister once," continued the guard. "When I went to the hospital. She's the sweetest little thing."

"That she is." Said Peeta, rubbing my back.

So the six of us stood there, the two guards, Peeta, Finnick, mother and I, our eyes filled with tears as we waited for Prim to come. Every moment I expected Coin to come around the corner, ordering us to shut the doors that should have closed twenty seconds ago. I expected Prim to come racing around the corner, Buttercup in her arms, panting as she tried to get to the bunker on time.

But neither of them came.

For just forty seconds later, there was a deafening boom as the first bomb hit.

And the doors slammed shut.

* * *

***Runs away***

**Sorry, sorry, sorry. Please don't kill me! I'm trying to stick to what _might_ have happened... and think about it, if Peeta hadn't warned thirteen about the bombs, this would have happened. I was so sad writing this... Prim is one of the best characters ever.  
**


	12. Empty

**Okay, sorry for the wait. Here's the next addition, Katniss in sad mode. I'm sorry to all those of you who still want to throw your screens at me. Don't worry, I understand. I've wanted to do that too, a couple of times. (Well, not at _me, _but you get the point.)**

**By the way, the stuff in italics are flashbacks.  
**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 12**

Empty

White.

That's all I can see. I stare at the wall, trying to block out my pain, ignoring everything. Peeta's comforting words. My mother's wails. The tremors as the bombs hit the ground.

Empty.

That's what I am. An empty hole. A shell. A corpse.

Nothing.

That's all I have left.

She's gone.

But she can't be.

I stare at the wall, waiting for her to come home.

Like she used to.

"_Katniss, I'm home!"_

"_Hey Prim! Did you have fun at your friends birthday?"_

"_Yeah, it was great! We played loads of games, and then Kate's mother made us a chocolate cake! A chocolate cake, Katniss!"_

"_Really? Amazing! I've never had a chocolate cake before. What was it like?"_

"_All sweet and warm and… I don't know how to describe it. Delicious!"_

She was such a sweet little girl. The smallest things could excite her. Where did she go?

"_Katniss, look what I found!"_

"_What did you- whoa, Prim, what is that?" I stared at what looked like a lump of vomit colored moldy fur. _

"_It's a kitty! He's a little hurt, but I'm going to fix him all up, and then he'll be my friend."_

"_Prim… We can't keep him. We don't have enough food as it is…"_

"_But, he can feed himself. Catch mice and stuff. I can't just leave him to die…"_

That's Prim. Always caring for others, even if she had to go hungry.

Even if it meant losing her life.

"_So, everybody's down here then?" asked Peeta._

"_Most people. They're just running around to see if there is anybody left." Prim's face turned from pink to white in a second. In the next second she was out of the door._

…

_I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that she'd run back fast. I tried to think of why she might have gone back. Then I swore._

_That cat! That stupid cat! She'd gone back for Buttercup! _

Why? She couldn't be gone!

Maybe if I could _do_ something I would be okay. But being stuck down here…

Then again, maybe not.

I feel like a hole as been punched through my chest. That space in my heart that was reserved for Prim is gone.

Like her.

Cold. Empty.

Gone.

And when she left, she took a piece of me with her.

* * *

**Ok, I know it was short, but this was originally the start of the next chapter; it just seemed to go better by itself. Sort of goes with Katniss' feelings, about how she doesn't want anything to do with anyone at this point. Gee, wouldn't my English Lit teacher be proud...  
**

**But don't worry. I'm posting the next chapter now. I'm not cheating you out of a chapter or anything! :P**


	13. Knots

**So, here's the rest of it, as promised. Hope it's alright. **

**Disclaimer: Everything you don't recognize I guess could be considered mine... the rest of it, not a chance. **

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Knots

I sat and stared at the wall for about a day. I was deaf and blind to everything except for the white of the wall and the boom of the bombs. I felt nothing other than the tremors the explosions sent through the bed.

At every one, I wondered if it was the one that would kill my sister.

After a while the bombs stopped, and everything was quiet.

Eventually, Peeta managed to break through the thick wall of ice that was surrounding me. I stopped staring at the wall. I stared at him instead.

He talked to me. He didn't expect me to say anything back. Because even though I hadn't realized it before, if there was anybody that knew what I was going through it was Peeta.

He talked about his family. About how much he loved his Father and brothers. I knew he hadn't liked his mother much; she was a bit of a witch. But she was still his mother, and he still loved her. He had lost his entire family. I had lost my sister.

He said that he had felt empty inside. That there was nothing left for him to live for. But when he found out about his family, it was the same time that I had found out about Gale. I was a wreck, and Peeta knew that I needed his help. So he looked after me. He didn't forget his family. He tucked them away, and put them safe in his heart. He remembered all of the happy memories, and all of the good times they had shared. Because they wouldn't want him to spend the rest of his life mourning them, and wishing that they were still alive. They'd want him to move on and have a good life.

That's what Prim would want me to do.

Peeta was right. Prim would want me to move on and be happy. I know that I'll never be the same again, and I know that I'll never forget her. That empty feeling in my chest will never truly disappear. But the world won't stop for Prim. This war is not just going to freeze to give me time to get over my sister.

Prim died trying to save the life of someone she loved. I know that if she were here now, she'd want me to continue fighting this war, to make the world a better place.

And I'm not going to do that staring at a wall.

~~0~~

The first few days after we had been let out of the bunkers were awful. A lot bombs had penetrated the tunnels, and many were caved in. We all had to relocate to rooms deeper underground, and everyone had to lend a hand in clearing all the rubble and rebuilding the tunnels in order to get District 13 back in business. Almost immediately, Coin had Peeta, Finnick and I doing filming, sometimes with Beetee, and a couple with Rory, who was now feeling better, but a little sore, just to prove to the rest of Panem that we had survived the onslaught. For the Capitol had sent out propos of their own, claiming the rebels were crushed.

I think there might have been another reason for the masses of propos though; I was sure we did not need _that_ many. Actually, I know there was another reason.

As the people cleared the rubble, they were finding bodies. Apparently, Prim had not been the only one not to make it back. Of course, I knew she couldn't have been; I had heard the wailing mothers, the crying wives, and the grieving fathers. I just hadn't processed the reason for their grief as I was drowning in my own.

They found Prim's body not far from the bunker. She could have gotten there in another minute. They wouldn't let me see her, but they assured me she died quickly, a blow to the head.

They said she was clutching a cat.

It was hard, but I tried my hardest. Every little thing I saw reminded me of Prim. I remembered what it was like when my father died, and how my mother had shut herself off from the world, and how Prim and I had almost died. I couldn't do that. If I shut myself away, I wouldn't just be sentencing two people to death; I would be destroying the whole country.

My mother did it again. She locked herself in the room that we would be sharing with Peeta and Finnick, (due to many of the rooms being destroyed, more people were being forced to share,) and refused to let us in. Finnick had to break down the door, and even then she refused to acknowledge us. Actually, I don't think she even knew we were there. Finnick carried her up to the hospital, and she's staying in the mental ward now. I'm worried about her. But with everything going on, I'm able to… well, not forget about it, but push it to the back of my mind. I still visit her every day, but she doesn't seem to be getting any better. At least the doctors have been able to get her to eat.

My mother isn't the only person I have been worried about. The Capitol have been sending out more propos with Gale, always giving the same message; end the war, or everyone will die. But that's not what's bothering me about the messages. Gale looks worse than ever. He's just skin and bones, even more so than he used to be; even worse than I looked, all those years ago, when I was searching through the baker's bin, and Peeta threw me that bread. But that isn't all.

Every time I see him, he has more bruises, more scars. I think they have stopped covering him in makeup, just to get at me further.

I have realized what Snow's doing. He is trying to make me crack.

And it's working.

It's all been too much. First Gale being captured, then Rory almost dying and that whole ordeal in Eight, then Prim… leaving. And my mother shutting down. Now this.

Why else would they hurt Gale? Haymitch said so himself. The people don't know Gale. He's always just been on the sidelines. The only reason they could possibly want anything to do with Gale is me.

And this, more than anything else, makes me feel horrible.

Then came the day when the broadcasts stopped.

The Capitol had been showing Gale and Caesar, and occasionally Snow himself, on the big screen almost everyday. But, about two weeks after the bombs, they just stopped. No more. At first I thought that maybe they had just given Gale a day off. Maybe he was unconscious from being tortured… No. I pushed that thought out of my head. They were just giving the country a break from the boring routine before they stopped taking it seriously. But after a couple of days, and still no showing, I started to get worried.

What if they had gone overboard on the torture? What if they had killed him?

I was almost glad at the thought. Gale was free.

Then I froze.

No. _No._ This could not be happening. Gale could not be dead. No matter where I was, what I was doing, Gale had always been there for me. Even if not in body, but in thoughts. I had always known he would be rooting for me.

The moment I realized that Gale might be gone, I ran away from the newly fixed dining hall, where I had been eating dinner, and, ignoring Peeta's yells, sprinted through the halls, with one thought running through my mind.

_I can't lose anybody else._

As soon as I burst through the doors of the Hawthorne room, I ran straight to Hazelle, and threw my arms around her.

Hazelle was like my second mother. She had always cared for me, and I loved her. Now, she practically was my mother. She cared for me, comforted me, and made sure that I was okay. Of course, I had Peeta looking after me as well, but it was nice knowing that I had someone from my old life, the closest thing I had to a mother at the moment, looking out for me.

She just held me tight, and let my tears soak into her shirt.

"Shh, now. It's all right. Everything will work out."

I shook my head.

"What," I whispered, "what do you think is happening to Gale?"

I felt Hazelle stiffen. I knew that it probably wasn't the best thing to say, what with everything going on, but I had to talk to someone. I couldn't talk to Peeta; he wouldn't understand, even though he would try his hardest. And I couldn't talk to Finnick; I know he understood, as his Annie had also been captured, but he doesn't know Gale. And Prim was gone. Hazelle was the only person left.

"I don't know, Katniss. I just don't know."

We both stood there, like mother and daughter, holding on to each other for support, hopping that Gale was okay.

~~0~~

"So, I make a loop, then wrap this end around here, put it through the hole, and pull it tight?"

"You need to wrap it around a few times."

"Like this?"

"Yeah, that's better."

"Oh good. I can officially make a noose. Now I have a means of killing myself." Finnick inspected my face quickly, just to make sure I was joking, before he smiled slightly. One could never be to sure, these days. "Could you teach me how to make a net now? I've always wondered how to do that."

"Sure."

We sat there for a while, Finnick leaning against my bed, me against Peeta's, occasionally gripping his hand to scare away his nightmares. I couldn't sleep, even with Peeta there, and neither could Finnick. He didn't have anyone to scare away his demons. He made me realize how lucky I was to have Peeta with me.

Finnick had been showing me his way to combat the nightmares. He would stay up all night, tying knots to stay awake, sometimes for a couple of nights in a row. Then, he would be so tired he could sleep without dreaming. It seemed like a good system. In reality, you didn't moss that much sleep; the nightmares stop you from getting much, anyway.

"What are you doing?"

I glanced up to see Peeta peering over the edge of his bed at us.

"Oh, not much," I said, waving a hand. "Finnick was just showing me some knots."

"At three in the morning? I though you complained about it that time Coin woke us up at four. And here you are at _three_?" He glanced at Finnick. "Whatever happened to needing beauty sleep?" Finnick chuckled.

"That was one of my sleep days. Of course I was upset." I smiled. Before… what happened, I might have laughed. But not anymore.

Peeta just looked confused.

"Sleep days?"

"Never mind." I muttered. "Go back to sleep Peeta. You're one of the luckier ones."

"I can't," He whispered, so quiet I almost missed it. "And I'm not one of the luckier ones." He slid of the bed and onto the floor next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "I'm a Victor, aren't I? I was under the impression that there was some unwritten law about Victors and nightmares." I sighed, and Finnick nodded.

"I guess so," he said.

"Anyway," said Peeta, slightly louder. "You never did say. Why are you up tying knots at three in the morning?"

Finnick explained his system while I continued trying to tie the rope. It kept falling out of whatever shape I twisted it into, and refused to stay together as a net. I groaned in frustration and threw the rope at the ground.

"I don't get how you do that!" I cried. "It doesn't work!"

Chuckling, Finnick picked up the rope, and once again explained how to make a net, a twisted the rope perfectly. I rolled my eyes as he held out the perfect net. Grinning, he shook the rope back into its original state, and started coaching me in the art of net weaving, Peeta watching expectantly.

This is how Haymitch found us four hours later when he came in to wake us up. He stared at us, and then asked if we'd been there the entire night. We nodded, and he sighed, walked out the room and slammed the door behind him, not even bothering to tell us to go get breakfast. I shrugged, and turned back to my pile of rope, which, as Peeta so kindly pointed out, looked kind of like a net if you squinted.

~~0~~

When we walked into Control for a meeting later that afternoon, it was to see only two people in the room; Coin and Haymitch. They seemed to be having an argument in hushed voices.

As one, the three of us backed out of the room, and knocked loudly on the door. Then we walked back inside to see Coin and Haymitch, standing apart; the former glaring at the latter. Haymitch walked over to us, and pulled me into a hug. I was surprised. He never showed any emotion. Never.

It didn't last very long; only a couple of seconds, but when he pulled away, she saw her expression of shock mirrored on both Finnick and Peeta's faces.

Haymitch coughed with embarrassment, then lent in and whispered,

"Katniss, I'm so sorry." Then he walked to the other side of the room, determinately glaring at the wall. I glanced at Peeta; he shrugged. I took his hand, and we walked further into the room.

I was surprised that there was no-one there; Boggs had walked in not long after us, but he was all. Coin, finally giving up glaring at Haymitch, came to me.

"Katniss." She said. I looked at her, waiting for her to continue. But she didn't. She just stood there, staring at me.

She wasn't staring at me like anybody else ever had. It wasn't in pity, or admiration, or simply like a piece of meat, as the Gamemakers had looked at me. She was looking at me as if she was evaluating me… but not quite. I wasn't sure what it was, actually.

Then I picked it. She was detached, like she didn't see me as a person at all; more like an object she was considering to buy. Not in the way the Gamemakers were; she wasn't looking at me like a toy, or entertainment, or even a slave. She was looking at me like a _puppet._ I'm sure that doesn't make any sense, but it's the only way I can describe it. It was like she was playing chess, and was trying to decide her next move, weighing her options.

She still hadn't said anything, and so I decided to break the silence.

"Yes?" Oh, very nice, Katniss. That'll make her like you more.

"You're depressed." She didn't say it like she was worried, like she cared. The said it in a matter-of-fact tone. She might have been telling me we were having gruel for dinner.

"Really? I wonder why that might be?" I knew the moment the words were out of my mouth that they were a mistake, but at that point I couldn't care less. She was irritating me to no end. Of course I was depressed! My sister, pretty much the reason I kept myself alive all those years, the reason I went to the Hunger Games in the first place, had just died. My mother was so depressed she couldn't move! My best friend was in the Capitol, and had been tortured for months now; I don't even know if he's alive! What did she expect?

Coin was glaring at me now, and Haymitch found it necessary to step in.

"Stop. President, you know what she's been going through. You know what it feels like. Give her some slack. You know how to make this better; just tell her already!" What did Haymitch mean, Coin knew what I was going through? Did she lose someone? I shook that thought, as well as my wonder at Haymitch yelling at Coin, out of my mind, and concentrated on the more pressing matter.

What did Coin know?

Coin glared at Haymitch – she seemed to be doing that a lot – and turned to me. Actually, no, I realized. She turned to _us_. Well, obviously, she was going to talk to Finnick and Peeta a well. A voice that sounded strangely like Prim's flew into my head.

_You're not the center of the world, you know, Katniss. _

I smiled slightly, and returned my attention to Coin.

She sighed, then began to speak.

"As you know, we have many spies placed throughout the Capitol. As well as informing us of the Capitol's military intentions, they are all watching for unusual movements and reporting them. One of them reported back this morning." She looked at the three of us. My eyes were wide as I stared at her, and I'm sure the others were the same. Why was she telling use this? "They have the location of the captured Victors, as well as other captured people of importance."

It took a while for this to sink in. A second after it did, I heard a gasp to my right, and I knew Finnick realize it as well.

"Do you mean…" He whispered, his voice shaking, "You know where Annie…"

"Yes, Mr. Odair. We have managed to locate Victors Johanna Mason and Annie Cresta. We also have the location of Gale Hawthorne."

I felt my breath catch in my throat.

"You mean…" I whispered, sounding just like Finnick had not a minute before. "He's, he's alive?"

Coin nodded.

I felt like dancing for joy, but my happiness was squashed with the next words that came from Coin's mouth.

"Yes. He is alive, but he is not believed to be in a good state. He will undoubtedly be very damaged if he survives this… both physically and mentally. We believe he must be in a bad condition if he is no longer being shown on the T.V."

I started to shake, and probably would have fallen over if Peeta hadn't grabbed me by the waist. I leaned into him, trying to merge into his figure. I wanted to cease existing. But, once again, Coins next words completely change my view on life.

"Katniss, we all know you have been distracted lately. You cannot work to your full potential with… what has been going on. I know this is not your fault. My own sister…" She paused, and her eyes gained a far away look. She did have a sister then. Well, by the sound of things, used to have a sister. That must be what Haymitch meant when he said that Coin should have understood me better. Did her sister get killed by the Capitol too? I wonder if that is why Coin is so cold, and so determined to destroy the Capitol at any cost.

I'm not sure if it's true, but that thought has given me a new respect for President Alma Coin. A respect that was about to be strengthened.

"Anyway. The point is, I know that it is impossible to function properly when surrounded by such loss, and when some-one close to you is in the clutches of the Capitol. This goes for you too, Finnick," she said, nodding at the man in question. "So, I, along with the rest of the board, have decided something."

She glanced between Peeta and I, clutching at each other, to Finnick, standing alone.

"We are going to conduct a rescue mission."

We stood there, waiting for the news to sink in. A rescue mission? Seriously?

I chuckled, for the first time in a long time. I guess the odd feeling of feeling disbelieve, amazement, excitement and anger all at the same time brought it out.

"Right, right. Let me guess. You're going to fly in there on a hovercraft, pick up Annie, Johanna, and Gale, then fly back here. Sure."

Coin glared at me.

"You don't understand how hard this is," she hissed. "We are trying to organize the rescue of three people that we _do not need_ to win this war, just to make you three happy, and how do you thank me? If you don't want me to get them, fine!"

I couldn't move. She meant it. She actually meant it.

Luckily, Finnick came to the rescue.

"Really? You would do that for us?"

"For the good of the country." Huffed Coin.

Well, what can you expect? Of course she isn't doing it for us, she's doing it to make us work better. But at the moment I couldn't care less.

"When?" I whispered.

"A team is being sorted as I speak. I figure that's why you're here, Boggs?"

Boggs nodded.

"We've got everyone. They're starting the plan, but we need you there as soon as possible." Coin nodded.

"I'll meet you there."

Boggs swiftly left the room, and Coin turned back to us.

"They plan to leave tomorrow, mid morning. We are going to need you to film some good propos in the morning, so we can use them as a distraction while the team goes in." I nodded, but a flash of anger crossed Finnick's face.

"We aren't going?"

"No. You must stay here, or they won't have any cover." Finnick seemed to be about to retaliate, but he saw the logic in her argument and stopped.

Like me, he just seemed glad that something was finally being done.

~~0~~

That night, we found ourselves once again sitting on the floor, fiddling with a piece of rope. Peeta and I had our own rope this time, so we were able to copy Finnick's moves, and made a bit more progress.

"So, what do you think you guys'll do?" I asked.

"I don't know. I was thinking maybe I could do something with you." Peeta glanced up from his attempted monkey fist, and I smiled at him.

"What about you, Finnick?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas," He grinned, somewhat evilly. "You'll have to wait and see. It's a _secret_." He winked at me, and I frowned, trying to decide what he meant. "What do you think you'll do? Any idea's?"

"I was thinking of talking about Rue, actually," I said. "Since Coin moved her family here, I think It'll be a safe topic, and effective."

Coin had moved Rue's family to Thirteen, after a spy had heard that the Capitol wanted to capture them to, surprise, surprise, make me feel bad. I hadn't seen them; I didn't feel up to talking to the family of the girl I was unable to save.

"That's a good idea," said Peeta thoughtfully. "What if we did a couple like that? We could talk about quite a few people that died because of the Capitol. Mags, Wiress, Thresh, Chaff, Seeder, Blight, those Morphlings from Six. We could ask Haymitch to maybe talk about some District Twelve tributes, Finnick, maybe you could talk about some of the not-so-career tribute you mentored… You never know, we might hit a nerve somewhere."

"That's a great idea!" I exclaimed. "The some Capitol citizens might feel guilty, or something, and then they'd, I don't know, realize we have a point?"

Peeta reached over and grabbed my hand, rubbing soothing circles into the back of it with his thumb.

"They already know we have a point, Katniss. Deep down, they know. You saw them before the Quell. They know it's wrong. They just don't want to believe it. That's all we have to do. Make them believe."

"That's impossible."

"No, I don't think so." Said Finnick, staring at Peeta. "Some of them think the Games are wrong. One of them told me, _'It's great entertainment, but I think it's a little cruel that the children have to suffer. But I don't want it to stop. It's a part of my life._' They're afraid of change, and they've all grown up on it; it's the only think they know. But deep down, I think they, at least, get our point."

I stared at Finnick. Could it be true?

"No," I said, shaking my head. "They can't. How could they send us out there to be killed with no more thought than a farmer sending a cow to be butchered if they care?"

"They only care a little," said Peeta. "Not enough for them to realise it themselves." When he said that, he stared at me so intensely I wasn't sure if he was still talking about the Capitol.

"Maybe," I said. "But I doubt it. They don't care. They can't."

"They're in denial," Muttered Finnick, chuckling. I glared at him. This wasn't a laughing matter.

"But… How?" I whispered.

"Katniss, trust me." Peeta had that look in is eye again. It was pleading, yes. But it was also soft, and caring.

"I do." I said without hesitation. A look of joy passed over Peeta's face, but it was gone so soon I thought I must have imagined it.

"Then believe us."

I nodded slightly, and Peeta smiled again.

"I still don't understand though…"

"Neither do I," muttered Finnick.

Peeta sighed.

"I told you. They know, just really deep down. They just don't want to believe it. That's all we have to do. _Make them believe_."

I shook my head for what seemed like the millionth time that evening, and looked back down at my 'knot', more accurately described as a tangled mess.

* * *

**So, I know a few of them might have been a bit OOC. I apologise for that. Also, I know the ending was a bit odd. But I have a plan for the end of the fic, so I needed that to be there. Another thing, (gee, I seem to be apologising a lot. Ignore me If you find apologising annoying... :P ) some of you may think Katniss moved on from Prim a little quick... I just didn't want to drag it out too long, It's get boring. **

**Just in case you were wondering, a monkey fist is a type ball-shaped knot. I've been trying to tie one for ages but they are soo hard. And I bet now I've typed that some-one is going to read this and know how to tie one... -glares- ah well.  
**


	14. Propaganda

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. **

* * *

**Chapter 14**

Propaganda

"Alright, now everybody is here," said Fulvia, with a glance at Peeta and I, "We can get started. You will each be doing your own propo to start with, but we may do some joint ones later, probably with Katniss and Peeta."

We all nodded.

The group of us were standing above ground, near the ruin of the old justice building that the Capitol always shows on their news broadcasts, preparing to shoot the propos that will be the distraction for the rescue team. There are four of us that will be in the propos; Peeta, Finnick, Beetee and I. Haymitch had declined, as he believed that not much of the public sympathizes with him.

I am to go second last. Peeta requested it to be this way; he knows me too well. I hate going first, but also hate going last. I'm not sure why.

Beetee is going first. He's going to talk about Wiress and some of the tributes he has been forced to mentor.

I tune him out as he gives his speech. I won't pretend that I knew Wiress; I never really talked to her. Sure, I had had a conversation with her. I had been allies with her. I was the only one that had understood her when she was trying to tell us the arena was a clock. But I never really _talked_ to her. I didn't know what she was like. I didn't know what she had for breakfast, what her parents' names were, or what her favourite color was. Most people would think none of this matters; but it is all a part of her story.

Instead, I watched Peeta. His eyes have always fascinated me, from the way his eyes can sparkle in happiness or become deep in thought, to the way his pale eyelashes glint in the sun. When Peeta turns to glance at me – I swear he could feel me eyes on him – I quickly looked back to Beetee, who was talking about devastated Wiress had been when she returned from the Games, only to find her younger sister had been killed in an 'accident' at the factory she worked at.

It was strange. I felt just like I did when we were back at school, but not quite. Now, instead of just not wanting to be caught staring, having been trying to figure out why he gave me food, I was embarrassed, because I had been caught staring at a boy in… _that_ way. I don't know why I was embarrassed, considering all the things Peeta and I had done in the past. But I guess all those things weren't real. At least, not all of them.

In what feels like mere moments, but is actually about fifteen minutes, Beetee has finished. Now it is Peeta's turn.

I wasn't sure what Peeta was going to talk about. I had thought maybe he would talk about other tributes, or his family, or maybe me.

Self-centered much?

I was quite surprised when I realized what he _was_ going to talk about.

"These days are hard on all of us. Before the war, the times were hard on us. We dealt with hunger, poverty, hard work, oppression. Some more than others. Most people think, and I bet many of you watching are thinking it now, that Victors have it easy. I know I did before my Games. I used to hate the Victors, how they could go from nothing, go into a Game, and come out as the kings and queens of the world. Sure, I understood that to get where they were they had to go through a terrible, terrible experience, the worst anybody could go through. I knew that they had to _kill_ to get where they were, and I knew that it most certainly wasn't their choice; except for a couple of the careers. I thought I understood how hard it must be. But that was a long time ago. As I got older, I realized that I would never be able to understand unless I went through it myself. But that did not stop me from hating the Victors.

"They had everything. Food, money, free time. They didn't have to go to school, they would never have to worry about being reaped. It almost seemed like the perfect life." Peeta paused, and his brow furrowed as he thought for a second.

"No, before I go on, I would like you to understand that I am not saying this hoping to gain sympathy. We have all gone through this because we have to, and, as horrible as it is, I am sure that the majority of us would not have it any other way. This is our life.

"As I was saying, I thought Victors had the perfect life. They do not. Watching from the point of view of the average person, you don't see it. To the average person, a Victor is some-one that wallows in their own guilt, survivors guilt, I believe it is called. They use their money to buy drink and morphling to use at their pleasure. They ignore society as they believe themselves to be higher up than everybody else.

"This is not true. Only a few months ago, I would have said that some-one who has gone through the horror of the Games to understand. But with this recent war on, I think most people could.

"Sure, Victors wallow in guilt. It's hard not to when you know that you have murdered an innocent child in order to keep yourself alive. You tell yourself that you did to save your friend, to stop your parents from being depressed, to give your district a little more food. But in the end, it comes down to the fact that you valued your life over theirs. You wonder, how many people was it okay to kill to keep you alive? And that's not something that's easy to forget.

"The drinks and the drugs aren't tools of recreation. They are used to forget. Our mentor, Haymitch, is seen by the majority of People as a good for nothing drunk, even if he did bring two Victors home last year. The truth is, he's had enough. Not only has he mentored forty-six kids only to see them die, he lost one of his friends to the games. He watched her die, unable to do a thing. He does the only thing he can; he forgets.

"Now for an eye opener. Has anybody ever wondered why the Victors hardly ever seem to have much family? Why they always shut themselves away? It's not because they think themselves as better than anybody else. Have you ever noticed a pattern? Finnick's mother, killed in a 'tragic boating accident'? Haymitch's mother and brother, who died when the 'accidentally walked into the electric fence?' Annie Cresta's parents, drowned in strong swell? Wiress' sister, who died when a machine she was working on 'malfunctioned'. Why do you think this might be? Victors don't shut the world out; they shut themselves off from the world. They don't want to meet anybody else that the Capitol can use against them.

"Then there are the nightmares. Most people believe that the moment you are lifted out of the arena, or maybe when you step back into your district, you are free of the Games; you are safe. That is also not true. You never leave the arena. The other Tributes come back to haunt you. Ghosts of allies, demanding why you survived and they didn't. Enemies trying to get you back. Always the faces of those you killed, mocking you from afar. From the moment you enter the arena, you never leave it.

"I know that some of you will be watching this, not believing a word I say. Wondering how I can be saying this when I am a Victor myself. Well, I was lucky. I got to keep Katniss; I have someone that understands. None of the other Victors do, for every Games is different, and there is only one winner. But, apart from being forced to kill others, we are no different from anybody else out there. We have lost our families. We have starved. We have survived.

"What I am trying to say is that we understand what everyone in this war is going through; we've already been through it before."

Peeta signalled Cressida to stop filming, almost having to yell at her. Finnick, Beetee and I were unaffected. I had no idea why Peeta chose to talk about us. That wasn't what people wanted to hear. They wanted us to sympathize to ward them, not make them feel sorry for us. But when I looked at the others, I saw that It was a very good point indeed.

Nobody had every talked abut what it was like to be a Victor before. Peeta was right. People just believed that Victors had it easy. They didn't understand. But now, with this war on, there was a chance that they could… If we gave them that chance.

I felt Fulvia shake my arm. It was my turn. I took a deep breath, and took my place. I had no idea how I was going to equal Peeta's. I knew I couldn't top it.

"Many people have different views of the Hunger Games. Some people see it as entertainment. Some see it as an opportunity to prove themselves. But, I think the majority of the population believe it to be a slaughterhouse.

"Similarly, when reaped, people go into the arena with different goals. Some go in to win, at any cost. Some do it for glory. Some do it purely to stay alive. Some do it because they promised their family they would come back. Then there are the people that don't do it for themselves. In fact, they would not care if they died, if only their family could have the benefits of a Victor. They want their younger brothers and sisters to be able to go to bed without feeling hungry. To be able to actually eat breakfast everyday. To let them actually taste bread before they die.

"Is that too much to ask? Apparently, it was for Rue.

"Rue was one of those people who were in the Games for her family. She only wanted her little brothers and sisters to have some food. She would have done anything for them. I know that when I was in the arena, and I was struggling, I thought of Prim. I knew that she would be watching, and that she would be horrified if she saw me die. She would never be the same again. It was the thought of her that kept me going. I'm sure Rue was the same.

"Sweet, young Rue. She was kind, caring, and trusting, one of the best people I have every met. She reminded me of Prim; that's why I teamed up with her in the first place. And she was so young and… innocent. But not quite so much as I originally thought. I don't mean that she had killed some-one before the Games or anything. What I mean is, she understood the world. She understood that the most important thing in that arena wasn't about becoming a ruthless killing machine. It was about staying yourself, stopping yourself from becoming a puppet. It took me a long time to understand this. Peeta understood from the beginning, but when he explained it to me the day before we entered the arena, I didn't understand. But I did when I went to Quell; when I decided that I wasn't going to win. I didn't, don't, want to be a part of Snow's games.

"That's what everybody has to realise now. Everyone is they're own person. You don't have to do what the Capitol says! You may not believe that you are, but it's true. You get scared at the thought of having children taken away to die; who wouldn't? When some-one gets reaped, they think the only thing to do is to become a killing machine; who wouldn't? When some of these uprisings started, many people thought that if they rebelled, the Capitol would win, like last time, and the Games would just get worse. And, yes, that's a valid argument.

"But what you don't realise is this is just one big Game. The whole country is just one full scale Hunger Games. I know we aren't being forced to kill each other. But, the Hunger Games aren't actually about killing people; they are about following the rules, or the Gamemakers will get you. The _rule_ is kill or be killed. If the Tributes don't fight, the Gamemakers scare them until they do. It's exactly the same outside of the arena. If we take one step outside of the box the Capitol has erected, we are punished.

"But the system can be beaten! Peeta and I did! We beat the Hunger Games. We both won. And that just proves my point! If we band together, we can do this. Don't be afraid. There is a Victor in every Games. Once in a while, some-one beats it. We did. Rue did. Haymitch did. Annie did. We cared for our fellow tributes, we weren't in it just for the money. We beat the system. We can do it again, and so can you.

"President Snow, if your watching this. Beware. We are coming. You won't be able to fight us. You won't be able to outrun us. You can't hide. You've done to much for us to show mercy.

"You tried to stamp on us. You tried to put out the fire. You know what? You succeeded. The fire's extinguished. Only you didn't do it. It was the rain.

"There's a storm coming. You better be prepared. Lightning can strike anywhere, quick and unpredictable. We aren't a fire anymore; we don't move straight.

"As long as we're suffering from the onslaught, you'll suffer with us."

I nodded to Cressida, signaling the end of my little speech. I groaned and put my head in my hands. It was terrible, I knew it. I was supposed to talk about Rue, but I strayed completely from the topic.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up to see Peeta.

"That was… wow, Katniss. Just wow."

I allowed myself a small smile, then moved away to let Finnick take my place. Everybody congratulated and complimented me on my performance, but I wasn't sure if it was enough. My thoughts were soon interrupted though, as Finnick started to talk.

I wasn't sure what he was going to talk about. Maybe Annie, or District Four. He had clearly tried to hint at something when I had asked him earlier, but I didn't catch up on it. What he did talk about blew me away; as well as any speculation about which of our propos would be the best.

"President Snow used to… Sell me… that is, my body. He would hold auctions, and I would be forced to spend the night with the highest bidder. It wasn't just me. If a Victor was considered desirable, then Snow would put them up for people to use. If you refuse, he kills some-one you love. So you do it. I wasn't the only one, but I was probably the most defenseless, because the people I love were the most defenceless."

_Annie_. I thought. Of course. This explains everything; Finnick's array of lovers in the Capitol; they were never real lovers, just people who he was forced to be with in order to keep Annie safe.

I inch closer to Peeta and wrap my arms around him. He jumps, startled, but wrapped his arms around me just the same, like he always has. I'm glad that at least Snow hasn't managed to take this away from me, like he has with Finnick.

"To make themselves feel better, some of my patrons would give me money or jewelery. But I soon found a much better form of payment.

"Secrets. And this is where you will want to stay tuned, President Snow, because so very many of them were about you. But first, I'll start with some of the others, and save the best for the grand finale."

Finnick began to tell stories of horror, incest and black mail. Of fights for power, both diplomatic and bloody, every time involving some form of foul play. I don't recognize most of the names that Finnick mentions, but I can tell that they must be high Capitol citizens. Some of them, I do recognize. Gamemakers, commanders, Head Peacekeepers. I can hear whispering all around me as the people that have fled the Capitol, such as Plutarch and Fulvia, among others, mutter to each other about the numerous scandals Finnick is uncovering. But we are all hanging in there, waiting for Finnick to begin about President Snow.

"So, onto our President Coriolanus Snow. He was so young when he gained power. He's kept it for such a long time. Never has anybody disputed it, and those who have didn't stay around for very long. How did he do it? Just one word. One word, and the whole country will understand.

"_Poison._

"That's right. From the very beginning, every single person that ever went against Snow was invited for dinner, enjoyed a nice glass of wine, and keeled over dead within the next twenty-four hours. You might ask why nobody ever suspected him if he wasn't drinking at the table. Well, he did. He drank so not to arouse suspicion, but antidotes don't always work. I'm sure that anybody who's ever been near him have noticed how he is always coughing into his handkerchief. Don't you think a cough could be cured, these days? Anyone who's been near him have smelt the blood on his breath. That's what poison does when you only get the antidote at the last second. Throat ulcers. That's why he has that odd infatuation with roses. He's trying to cover up the smell. Snow has a list. And no-one ever knows who's going to be next."

Finnick continues to talk about Snow's scandals. They are so eye opening, so mind boggling, that none of us realize when Finnick finishes. I don't even think Finnick does. He just sat there with his head in his hands, no doubt from the terrible memories of what he was going through when he received those secrets.

After a couple of seconds, Beetee sprints over and grabs the tape, then runs away, Cressida and Messalla in tow, to edit the material.

All that is left to do is wait.

~~0~~

We all got shoved into an empty room near Special Defence while we waited for Beetee and Co. to finish up with the propos. We all try to find our own ways of distracting ourselves.

Finnick paced. I tied knots. Peeta stares at me. Haymitch drank liquor.

I wonder where he got the alcohol from. I remember the time when Peeta drained his supplies of drink, and threatened Ripper not to sell him anymore liquor. Ah, Ripper. She probably died in the bombing… No, Katniss, think of something else. The Hob. We used to go there all the time, Gale and I-

No, don't think of Gale. Peeta. Think of Peeta.

I'm still not sure about my feelings for Peeta. Sometimes I think I love him, but… Love is such a strong word. I'm only seventeen years old; people aren't supposed to fall in love this young, are they? Well, I think my mother did. But still. Okay, Katniss, getting on shaky ground here. Don't think of Mother and Father. Peeta, Peeta, Peeta.

I jump as Finnick suddenly stops pacing and ran out of the room, yelling:

"I can't take this anymore! I'm going to go and see if I can be useful!" I know he's not though. He just wants to be alone.

"I'm going to go see if I can useful too," Muttered Haymitch, getting up and staggering over to the door. "I'm not going to do anything rash… I don't have a _'some-one special_' getting rescued…"

I sighed, and put down my rope. There really was no point in trying to distract myself. I glanced over at Peeta, who was still staring at me. I blushed and looked down at the ground, curling up into a ball and rocking back and forth.

"Katniss, are you alright?" I glanced up, and was about to make rather a rude remark, when Peeta spoke again. "No, don't answer that. Stupid question." I chuckled. Genuinely. Somehow, Peeta had just made me laugh.

Either I really am going mad, or something is going on here.

"I guess I'm alright, considering," I muttered, pressing my face back against my knees. I heard Peeta moving, and suddenly his arms were around me.

"I'm sorry."

"Why? You didn't do anything."

"I know. But I hate seeing you like this." His voice was so full of pain, that I looked up into his face. It looked like he really cared.

_Of course he cares, you idiot, he's only told you he loves you about a hundred times._

There it was, Prim's voice again, talking to me. I felt a small smile make its way onto my face. Peeta and Prim would have to be the only two people that could make me smile right now.

No, don't think of Prim. Peeta. Think of Peeta, Katniss…

I forced myself to move so I could look at him properly, but Peeta unwound his arms from around me. No, that's not want I want to happen.

I turned so I was facing him, and then put my arms around him, so he knew that I was just trying trying to move into a better position, rather than away from him. He smiled, and pulled to him again. But his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"No Peeta," I whispered, "I'm sorry. I keep hurting you, no matter what I try to do, and it's killing me." Peeta pulled away so he could inspect my face.

"Katniss," He whispered. "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I said. "I don't want to keep hurting you. I can't stand it. Every time I see you sad, it's almost like some-one's stabbed me in the chest." I stopped, and buried my face in his shirt, sure that I said too much. I'm Katniss Everdeen, for crying out loud. I don't wear my emotions on my sleeve! I don't even know what they are myself.

Peeta was frozen next to me, his arms still at my waist. When I pulled away from his chest, I found face only a few centimetres away from his face. He was staring at me with such intensity that I was sure he was about to burn a hole in my skin.

My breathing quickened, and I suddenly felt very nervous. Why? It wasn't like we'd never been this close before. We practically kissed every few minutes in our first Games. What was the difference?

I suppose that all of those kisses were fake, at least on my side. I never meant any of them. Well, there are two that stick out in my mind; the one in the cave, after I had got Peeta's medicine, and that one on the beach in the Quell. They seemed real; they were the ones that had made me want to kiss him again. And I realized, as Peeta's face moved slightly closer to mine, that I had meant them. Those two kisses were real. Just like this one was going to be.

I stretched a little higher, to let Peeta know what I wanted. I wasn't nervous anymore. I was excited. I wanted this. I wanted to be close to Peeta again, but properly this time. He made me happy, and that was something incredibly hard to do at the moment.

Peeta leaned down, and we were so close I could feel his breath against my lips. He stopped moving, making sure that I would be the one to close the distance. I grinned inwardly. He was so _Peeta_.

I leaned forward, and our lips brushed against each other, leaving a tingling sensation where they touched. And I knew that this was right.

I was about to press against him harder, when a loud bang filled the room as the door flew open.

"Alright kids, Beetee's done and- oh sorry." Peeta and I sprung apart and turned to see Haymitch standing in the doorway, his face the colour of a beetroot. He cleared his throat and said in a rush; "Beetee's finished with the propos and Coin wants to see you in Special Defense for their airing."

Then he all but ran out of the door.

~~0~~

The room we were being sent to was a special airing room made for the purpose of airing propos. There were several computer screens along the back wall, where Beetee and a few other refugees from District Three were typing away hurriedly. Above that, there was a large T.V screen, where the propos would be shown.

We all piled into the room as Coin began to explain what was going to happen. Basically, Beetee and Co. were going to wage a cyber war with the Capitol, forcing our propos over the television lines rather than theirs. This would hopefully be enough of a distraction to allow the rescue squad, which was now just outside the Capitol, to duck in, do their job and get out alive.

There was an awkward tension between Peeta and I, and especially Haymitch. Finnick seemed to notice it when he walked in, and winked at me. I was saved from wondering if he knew what had happened by Beetee announcing that they would be airing the propos in ten seconds. Some people began counting down, but I was way to nervous.

Whether Gale lived or died could depend on how well this goes.

Peeta seemed to sense what I was thinking, and reached over, grabbing my hand. He started to rub those oh so soothing circles into it, destroying any of the awkwardness between us. As tense as I was, I felt the corner of my lips twitch.

What on earth was happening to me?

I jumped as noise filled the room and footage of Rory and I in District Eight blared across the screen, followed by an image of Peeta. That stayed for maybe thirty seconds before the Capitol retaliated with footage of Gale talking to Caesar.

We all heard the words '_thousands of people die_', then Beetee got it back under control, and there was Finnick, telling the world that some important person had cheated on his wife and had an illegitimate daughter, who he then sent to District Nine, where she was reaped at twelve years old and killed in the Games. This continued for a long while. Finnick, Gale, Me, Caesar, Peeta, Snow, Me, Gale, Beetee. It went on and on and on. It might have been amusing to watch, if I hadn't known how important it was. Beetee and the others were amazing. No matter how many times the Capitol thwarted them, and no matter what tricky code or method they used to try and stop the rebels from gaining access once more, they always managed to get another image of us back up on the screen.

About half an hour and much swearing later, Coin held up her hand.

"Let it go!" cried Beetee. Then he repeated in a softer voice, "Let it go. If they aren't out now, they won't ever be."

I shuddered, and Peeta squeezed my hand. Everyone was quiet for a moment as we watched the Capitol' propos for a few minutes before they realized we had given up and stopped the broadcast.

"Well done," said Coin, "That went much better than I thought it would. Everybody is to return to their rooms. I will send for you when you are needed." Se turned to glare at me as she said that, and I once again wondered if she could read minds. I had just been about to ask when the rescue team would get back.

I sighed as Peeta pulled me back out of the room, and prepared myself for another long wait.

~~0~~

"They're back!" I heard the yell before Haymitch barged through the door, and Finnick, Peeta and I were already on our feet when he made his entrance. "They're back. Everyone survived."

I felt a grin spread across my face. Gale was alive. Gale was safe. Gale was _here._

"Wait, did they-" Finnick began urgently, but Haymitch cut him off.

"They got everybody they went in for."

Finnick seemed to be frozen on the spot as he took in Haymitch's words, his mouth gaping. But as soon as he did, he was off sprinting down the hall.

And I wasn't far behind him.

We ran all the way to the hospital, Finnick and I running on pure adrenaline, Peeta being dragged by me, as I refused to let go of his hand, and Haymitch a little way behind, huffing as he tried to keep up. The second we crashed through the hospital doors, Finnick and I started yelling at the doctors. We fell silent when a small voice floated through one of the doors.

"Finnick?" Finnick froze, an expression of happiness and disbelief on his face. "Finnick?" The voice was a little louder now. "Where's Finnick? I can hear Finnick!" A young woman charged out of a room, her brown hair a mess and her sea green eyes alight with excitement as she searched the hallway. "Finnick!" she screeched, and threw herself down the hall. Finnick stumbled towards her, overcome with joy, and wrapped his arms around the girl as she catapulted herself at him.

"Annie," he whispered. "Annie, you're alright. You're safe."

"I know," She said simply. "You're here."

I moved away, pulling Peeta with me, looking for another to doctor to yell at without disturbing Finnick and Annie. I found a suitable candidate, and began threatening him when he told me that I couldn't possibly see Gale, as the doctors had yet to check his injuries. We were forced to wait outside of his room. He was in one of the special rooms with a glass wall separating it into two halves, so he could be on one side and observed from the other. The glass was covered up though, so I couldn't see him.

After what felt like a lifetime, but was probably only ten minutes, a doctor came out and told us that Gale was waking up.

Suddenly I felt incredibly nervous, which was stupid of course. But what if Gale had been corrupted by the Capitol? What if he didn't want to join the rebels?

_Don't be stupid. This is Gale you're talking about._

I smiled.

"Thanks Prim," I whispered. A tear fell down my cheek as I started to move towards the door. I froze when Peeta dropped my hand, and turned to look at him.

"Please."

"I can't, Katniss. You should be alone with him."

I shook my head.

"I just… I can't, Peeta." I said, as he had. He searched me with those bright blue eyes, running all over my face. What he found I don't know, but he seemed to understand, and silently picked up my hand.

"Thankyou," I whispered.

"Anytime."

We walked to the other side of the barrier to see Gale sitting up, staring confusedly at the two doctors by his bed. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't be the first thing he saw when he woke up, but I brushed it away. That wasn't important.

Gale's head suddenly whipped around, and he caught sight of us. I groaned inwardly when I saw his face. He looked even worse than he had before, his face blackened with bruises and the skin clinging to his bones, almost as if he hadn't eaten in a week.

Despite this, when he saw us, Gale hopped of the bed, and started to walk towards us. The younger of the doctors seemed about to protest, but the older stopped him with a wave of her hand, smiling at me. I forced a smile onto my face as Gale made his way steadily towards us. I was happy to see him, I really was, I just found it hard to look at him with all of those bruises. I tried not to think about what the Capitol did to him and focused on his eyes.

They were darker than I remembered, and there was something else different about them. They had no spark. Gale had always had a slight determined spark in his eye, ever since I had known him. But as he walked towards us, his eyes were blank. And it scared me.

Peeta pushed me slightly forward, towards Gale. Gale reached out with his hands, and I reached out to him, ready for one of those hugs that used to make me feel at home.

But Gale wasn't reaching out to give me a hug.

He pushed past me with such force, that I fell to the ground.

Then his hands fastened around Peeta's throat.


	15. Questions

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, I would probably be living in a massive house, next to an abandoned beach... unfortunately, I don't. **

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Questions

I found myself, once again, staring at a wall. This wall was in the hospital though, rather than the bunker. But still. I seemed to be staring at walls a lot.

I replay what had happened in my head.

_Gale reached out, and fastened his hands around Peeta's throat. I screamed, and ran forward to help Peeta prise Gale hands from his neck, but to no avail. I consider whacking Gale over the head, but I don't want to hurt him when he is already in such a terrible state. I yell to the doctors, and they search for a sedative. But they are being to slow. Disregarding my previous thoughts about not hurting Gale in my panic to help Peeta, I curl my hand into a fist and swing at Gale's head, knocking him out. But Gale's hands are still at Peeta's throat. With the help of Haymitch, who had seen what was happening through the glass, we managed to get Peeta free, but not before he had already passed out. _

Why was this happening? Why had Gale tried to kill Peeta?

I had heard Haymitch and Plutarch talking, but I hadn't really been paying attention. All I heard was the word 'Hijacked', but I have no idea what it means. But I'm too worried to try and figure out what that means. Way too worried.

But I'm not worried about Gale.

I'm worried about Peeta.

And that scares me. Shouldn't I be more worried about the person that I have known my entire life than I am about some-one that I have only known for just over a year? And I hated them for about six months of that year. Shouldn't I be more worried about the person that will probably never be the same again, rather than the person that I know is okay?

Yeah, a doctor came out about an hour ago to tell me that Peeta's fine. He's got some bruising, and his carotid artery, windpipe and oesophagus are quite sore, but he's going to be perfectly fine. He won't even lose his voice.

So why am I more worried about Peeta than Gale?

Gale's been hijacked. As I said before, I don't know what that means, but if Gale tried to kill Peeta, then I know it's bad. I know Gale and Peeta were never truely friends – mainly thanks to me – but Gale would never hurt him. He knows what Peeta means to me. He's admitted, on several occasions, that Peeta's a good guy. The only reason Gale ever had to even slightly dislike him was because he had the potential to steal me away; and even that wasn't really his fault. Gale wasn't one to cause harm unnecessarily.

And that brings me back to my question; clearly, something terrible has happened to Gale. I know Peeta is going to be perfectly fine. So why, why do I want to run into that room and wrap Peeta in my arms when Gale is so clearly in a worse state?

I guess it might have something to do with the fact that Gale _did_ try to kill Peeta. That's not something I'll be able to forget easily. But I know that wasn't Gale acting; it was whatever the Capitol has turned him into.

I shuddered.

_Whatever the Capitol has turned him into._

Maybe that's what hijacking is; do they take a person, and twist their mind until they become something completely different? If so, what have they turned him into? Where did Gale go?

I was saved from these terrible thoughts when a doctor came out and told me I could see Peeta. I jumped up and ran into the room, practically throwing myself at him. I quickly got off him, though, when I remembered that he was hurt.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you all right? No, stupid question. How do you feel? Do you want me to-"

"Whoa, Katniss, calm down," croaked Peeta, reaching up and placing his hands on my shoulders. "I'm fine. I just nodded, not trusting my voice anymore. I just covered my face with my hands. "Katniss, what's wrong? It's Gale, isn't it?"

I just nodded again. Peeta took his hands off my shoulders and put them on my waist, pulling me onto the bed with him. I curled up next to him, and, as he buried hi face in my hair, suddenly found myself feeling slightly better.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," whispered Peeta, his voice still hoarse.

"How? I don't even know what's wrong with him!"

"It'll be okay," he said, trying to get me to calm down.

"How?" I asked again. "He tried to kill you Peeta! How is that in any way okay?"

"Well, look on the bright side: at least he didn't try to kill you."

I was about to say '_I'd rather he had,_' but stopped myself just in time. I really didn't need to be blurting out stuff like that. Instead, I said;

"How would that be any better?"

"Because at least you can still spend time with him. All we have to do is make sure _I_ don't go anywhere near him. You still can."

"He probably hates me though."

"Katniss, I don't think he could ever hate you, even if he tried."

"Well, I never thought he would ever try to kill you, but that just got proved wrong!" Peeta didn't respond, so I looked up at him. His lips were pressed together, and his eyes distant, like he was thinking hard.

"But that's me, Katniss." He finally settled on saying. "If I were in his position, I would hate me too. But it isn't me we were talking about; we were talking about you."

"Why would you hate you if you were in his position?" I whispered. Peeta sighed, and looked into my eyes.

"Well, look at it from his perspective for a minute. He's been your best friend for years, and when you were reaped, he probably thought you weren't going to come back. I'm sure he believed you had a chance – anyone could see you did – but if I think, deep down, he believed you would die. But, you survived. He expected everything to return to normal, or as normal is it could get with you being a Victor, but it didn't. Because I was there. Sure, you still preferred him over me, you were still his best friend." I made a move to speak, to tell him that I didn't prefer anyone over anyone, that I just loved them in different ways, but Peeta gave me a look that said '_let me finish_', so I held my voice. "Anyway, he would have told himself that you didn't love me, that it was all for show, but he would have begun to have doubts nagging the back of his mind. Then, on the Victory Tour, you agreed to marry me. Sure, it was for show, but that didn't change the fact that I was going to marry you. Then, in the Quell, we got even closer; and this time he would have known that you were not going to go back for certain. Then, you trying to die for me would have been the last straw. Just think about it Katniss; he has every right to hate me. The Capitol wouldn't have had to change him much."

As I thought about this, I realized that Peeta was right. If you looked at it that way, this whole scenario would have fallen entirely on top of Gale. I was rather amazed that he hadn't tried to kill Peeta before today.

And if the Capitol hadn't changed him much…

"That means you can still see him," finished Peeta. "He only hates me."

I groaned and buried my face back into Peeta's shoulder. He froze in shock for a second, then hesitantly started to rub my back.

"Katniss?" A doctor was at the door, staring at us with wide eyes.

"Yes?" I asked, not moving away from Peeta.

"We have news about Gale Hawthorne. Do you want to hear it?"

I froze, then nodded slightly, moving a little so that I was still curled up against Peeta, but in a slightly more respectable and upright fashion, facing the doctor.

"Mr. Hawthorne has many bruises and shows evidence of… physical torture," he said warily, watching my reaction. I realized that they probably expected me to brake down or something. "You broke his jaw when aiding Peeta, but this will heal soon. It was only a small fracture," he said. Peeta was staring at me curiously, probably from finding out that I had injured Gale in order to help him. I nodded again, silently asking the doctor to continue. "All of his physical injuries should heal in a matter of weeks," he said, smiling slightly.

I frowned.

"Physical injuries?"

The doctor's smile faltered, and he looked at me sadly.

"I'm afraid to tell you that Mr. Hawthorne has been hijacked. This is a new technique created by the Capitol, and is used rarely; however, thanks to our spies, we know rather a lot about the subject."

"Go on," I whispered, half excited to _finally_ get to understand what had happened to Gale, half not wanting to know.

"What they do is inject the victim with tracker jacker venom, then show them images of themselves with other people. You have both suffered the effects of tracker jacker venom?" Peeta and I winced. The doctor continued, taking this a confirmation. "You know it make everything around you seem more sinister. Well, this is what the victim sees: they are shown videos of memories, or of other people; but they see that person doing something horrible." The doctor paused, glancing at me, unsure of how to continue.

"So, what your saying," said Peeta, "Is that the Capitol must have inject him with tracker jacker venom, then showed him images of me, making him think that I want to kill him."

"Basically, yes," said the doctor, with another wary glance at me. He took a step back when he saw my expression.

"How dare they," I growled. "How dare they take my friend and turn him into a monster! How dare they try to make him kill Peeta! Snow will pay for this. You mark my words, he will pay." The doctor ran out, and Peeta stayed silent; he just held me, letting me fume.

~~0~~

"So, remind me why we have to be here again?" Finnick asked.

"Because Coin said so." Replied Peeta.

"Ah."

I snorted, and Peeta rolled his eyes.

"So, any idea why we're here?"

I groaned.

"Finnick, I thought we'd covered this. Coin said so."

"Yes I know she did, my dear Mockingjay, but what I meant was, why did she say so?"

"Because she wanted us to come here," I said, matching his tone.

"Hey! I thought you were supposed to be on my side!" Finnick said to Peeta, who was trying to stifle his laughter. He turned back to me. "But why did she want us to come here?"

"Ah, now we're getting some-where."

"Shut it, birdie, just 'cause you're important now, doesn't mean I can't tickle you."

"When was I ever not important?" I asked, grinning. "Don't answer that. Anyway, how can you be sure that I'm ticklish?"

"I, erm, that is-"

I burst out laughing, ignoring the other people in the room that were giving me odd looks. I hadn't laughed properly for ages.

"Ha! Look at that – the amazing Finnick Odair, speechless!"

"I am not speechless, my dear; I was merely saving you from embarrassment in front of your so-called boyfriend," said Finnick, winking.

Peeta's laughter broke through his best efforts just as Coin walked through the door.

"When you're quite done," she said, sending a menacing glare in our direction. The three of us forced our grins off our faces, and paid attention. Well, almost.

"Great, now I can find out why we're here," whispered Finnick in my ear. I snorted, earning another glare from Coin.

"I have called you all here because a situation has arisen in District One." Announced Coin. The entire room filled with tension, everybody expecting the worst. However, Coin did the unexpected, and broke into a grin. We all stared at her with wide eyes; we'd hardly even seen her smile before! "District One has rebelled and joined our cause!"

No-body moved, expecting Coin to yell out '_just kidding!_', for no matter how out of character it would've been, it was less unlikely than the fact that District One, the District second most devoted to the Capitol, would join our cause. When she didn't however, her words sunk in. District One was with us. _District One!_

The room suddenly filled with applause and congratulations. Coin allowed this to go on for about a minute, then called us back into order.

"So, that leaves only District Two standing between us and the Capitol. As I am sure you know, the Capitol depends on the Districts for everything; food, money, coal, jewelery. It can't survive without the Districts. The only District that is now supplying the Capitol is Two. It is the most guarded and the strongest of the Districts, but it would be much easier to take down than the Capitol. So, we are going to attack District Two, and either get them to join us, or destroy and capture them. This way, the Capitol will have nothing supporting it, and could even fall down by itself." Murmuring and nodding filled the room, as people agreed that this was the best cause of action; however risky for the people involved. "Now, here is the general structure of District Two_,_" said Coin, as she began to lie down the plan.

~~0~~

I groaned and sat up, unable to sleep.

Another mission.

This one was promising to be even worse than the one in Eight, because, this time, I would be fighting.

I know I fought last time, but was really only a little, and then I wasn't supposed to fight. Most people hadn't wanted me to go to Two at all; they thought it was too dangerous for the Mockingjay. However, Coin had shot them down, saying that I should be seen fighting in what was promising to be our biggest battle so far. So, I would be fighting; but only minimally, and sticking to the back of the attack, along with Peeta, and Finnick.

Coin had decided not to take Rory this time; as we now had Gale with us, there was no point in trying to make him seem a little less like a traitor. We had publicized the fact that Gale was with us, as well as Annie; Coin had announced that they were here, and recovering from injuries that the Capitol had given without reason or provocation.

"Katniss?" Peeta's voice was still hoarse, but I could hear the concern in it as he spoke my name. "Are you okay?" I sighed. I seemed to be hearing those three words rather a lot lately.

"I'm fine." Peeta's arms snaked around my waist from behind me, and I smiled slightly. Peeta could always make me feel better just by being there.

"Are you sure?"

I sighed again. He knew me too well.

"No."

Peeta pulled me closer to him and lifted me onto his lap. I leaned back into him, still smiling, despite the dread I was feeling.

"Is it the mission?"

"Sort of."

"Gale?"

"Sort of."

"You can tell me Katniss," he murmured, stroking my hair. "You can tell me anything."

"I know," I whispered. "I just don't know how."

"Just explain the best you can, and I'll try to understand." I nodded, and, glancing over to make sure Finnick was asleep, started to talk.

"First of all, I'm worried; I know I've been in dangerous situations before, but I've always known how to handle them; hunting, the Hunger Games; I've always known how to act. In Eight, it was all kind of sudden, and I was mostly acting out of fear for Rory. But, I don't know what I'll do in Two."

"I understand that," said Peeta, "But there's something else bothering you, isn't there?"

"Like you guessed," I said. "Gale. I don't know what's wrong with him, I don't know what will happen; what if he gets worse while we're gone? Or what if Coin does something to him while we're gone? He's just a liability if he stays here at the moment; he'll use up food and water, he's taking up room in the hospital. What if Coin decides he's better off dead? And what about my mother?" I shuddered, feeling guilty; I hadn't been in to see my mother since Prim.. I shook my head, and kept talking. "She's also taking up space, eating food; even if only a little food. What if Coin kills her? Or-"

"Stop." Peeta put and hand over my mouth and pulled away from me so he could look into my eyes. "Listen to me. _Coin is not going to kill anyone close to you_. Do you understand me?" I nodded glumly. There was something about his eyes that made it impossible for me to doubt him. "She can't kill Gale; hijacked or not, she gave him immunity, remember? And she won't kill your mother. What do you think you'd do if your mother died, Katniss?"

"I think I would die as well," I whispered. "I've never really been that close to her, not since my father died, anyway, but, she's still my mother. And Peeta, I don't think I could lose anybody else!"

Peeta nodded sadly, stroking my hair again, but never once taking his eyes from mine.

"Exactly. It would destroy you Katniss," he said softly, "and Coin needs you to win this war. She won't do anything that will make you depressed."

I nodded. Peeta's logic made sense; perfect sense. And suddenly I felt fine.

I smiled, and leaned back against him.

We just sat there for what must have been hours, glad of each others presence. I wasn't going to let him go; not when he made feel so much better; he made me feel more alive than I had since Prim died, since before the Quell.

No, I realized. I haven't been this happy since father died.

"Peeta?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Peeta pulled away again, only to place his lips on my forehead.

"Anytime," he whispered, just like he had before.

I reached up, putting a hand in his hair, and, much to his shock, pressed my lips up against his.

Because I know now. It became clear when, despite Gales worse condition, all I wanted was to hold Peeta. I think back to the Quell, the Victory Tour, and our fist Games. I guess I've known for a long time with out realizing it. Peeta is the right person for me He makes me feel happy. Whenever he wraps his arms around me, I feel like I'm safe from the Capitol, the Games and the war. I feel like I'm safe from even Snow's evil gaze. I know that I belong here, wrapped in Peeta's embrace.

And here I wish to stay.

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**Okay, so this was just really a filler. Katniss is a bit OOC, but I figured, she would be a little different if she just found out Gale was hijacked, right? Next chapter is the attack on Two: she'll talk to Gale by herself in the Chapter after that. **


	16. Blood

**Alright, So I could give you about twenty reasons as to why I haven't updated in a while, But I'm sure you don't want to hear them. So I won't bore you with the details.**

**Oh, and by the way, thanks to all of you who are reviewing. It's great to know this is working out okay. :D**

**Disclaimer: Last time I checked, it still wasn't mine. **

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**Chapter 16**

Blood

"Peeta! Katniss!" Finnick waved us over from where he was eating breakfast. "I'd like to introduce you to Annie Cresta. Annie, this is Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark."

"Hello," whispered Annie shyly. Already she looked better than she had when I first saw her three days ago; there was a but of color in her cheeks, and her hair was sleek and shiny. She seemed to have gained a little weight too, which could only be good after weeks of imprisonment.

"Hi," said Peeta friendlily. "Finnick's told us all about you."

"Good things, I hope," she smiled, getting over her shyness a little. It was hard to be shy when talking to Peeta; he just made you feel comfortable.

"Only the best." Grinned Finnick. "We have great news!" he announced.

"Really? What?" I asked.

"We're getting married!"

"Congratulations, guys!"

"Thanks, Peeta," said Finnick, joy plastered across his face. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. Finnick Odair, getting _married_? For my entire life, Finnick had just been the pretty Victor who moved from one girl to the next with less thought than a rooster flitting onto the next hen. Of course, I know now that it isn't true, and that the Capitol had been selling him off, but it still felt weird.

Then I saw the look on Finnick's face when he looked at Annie. It was the look I had seen on my father's face when he looked at my mother, on Peeta's face when he looked at me. And it no longer felt strange; it felt perfect.

"When?" I asked.

"After Finnick's trip." Grinned Annie. I looked at Finnick questioningly.

"After the mission," he whispered. "I don't want her to worry." He added in a way of explanation. Then he said in a louder voice; "It was Coin's idea; she reckons it'll boost morale; and who are we to complain?"

"Well, congratulations again," said Peeta, smiling at Annie. "You're very lucky."

"I know," she whispered.

~~0~~

The next few days were spent in planning and training, then before we knew it, we were off to District Two. I couldn't keep the dead weight of dread forming in the pit of my stomach; what if something went wrong? What id some-one got hurt? What if, god forbid, Peeta got hurt? What would I do?

Peeta seemed to sense that something was wrong, and squeezed my hand.

"It'll be fine Katniss. Nothing is going to happen." I nodded.

Out of the hovercraft window, I could see pretty much the whole of District Two. Two is a large, mountainous district, with villages spread out all over the place. In the center is the largest mountain of all, which has a couple of entrances all over the place. This mountain, nicknamed the Nut, used to be a mine. But when the Capitol lost District Thirteen and started to look for a new military stronghold, they found the Nut; strong, seemingly harmless, almost impossible to penetrate.

Of course, that might be a bit of an issue for us.

Our main plan is to find a way to get the Nut out of business, cutting it of from the Capitol. Then, we need to get the people of Two over onto our side; if we are to destroy the Capitol, we are going to have to get as many people as we can, and District Two has the largest population out of all the districts, as well as the most weapons and military training; if we could pick any one district to have on our side, this would be it. Ironically, it was the only district still against us.

When we landed, we were all hurried over to a small village. It had been abandoned for a while, as most people in Two prefer to live in the villages near the Nut, closer to the main square and the center of the District. Behind the village, in a small field similar to my old meadow back in Twelve, several tents have been erected as planning areas. They didn't want to go inside the buildings or even the small town square in fear of cameras.

This isn't the main base, it's just a smaller one of to the side. The main Conflict has already started; Coin thought it best if we were to arrive late to keep the main focus off us; she didn't want us hurt, just filmed. We were to stay behind the lines, but try and get a little fighting done. We would be around other soldiers, also fighting; but they would be under orders to help us if need be.

We just milled around outside the tent, waiting our orders. In a matter of minutes, Boggs came out of a tent and came over to us.

"It's time." He said.

Peeta put his arms around me and rubbed my back.

"Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I muttered, shrugging out of his arms. I grabbed his hand and my bow, and we followed after Boggs with Finnick, Cressida, Messalla and a few other soldiers that were to be our guard.

We didn't go to the Nut, but to one of the surrounding villages. It looked like a big one, and there were quite a few people running all over the place; some running from the rebels in fear, others running towards them, looking for a fight. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any peace keepers about; Coin believed that they would all be bent on defending the Nut.

I think that the plan was to destroy all of the entrances to the Nut except for one; that way, all of the people inside would be forced out that one entrance in a steady stream and get picked off. Even though we were outnumbered, we would have a slight advantage, as the small tunnel entrance would force the peacekeepers to come out in a thinner trickle, rather than all at once. However, they would be fresh with reinforcements, but Coin was hoping that we could overcome this by being more prepared.

We, on the other hand, are just going to be back here, herding the civilians. Of course they'll put up a fight too – this is a career district, they all know how to fight - but they stop training when they get too old for the Hunger Games, and they most certainly won't be as experienced as the peacekeepers. But all I have to do is remember the look on Cato's face as he ran towards me…

I shuddered. This was Cato's district. I killed Cato. I as good as killed Clove. And if it weren't for me, Finnick probably wouldn't have killed Brutus either. There are going to be a lot of people out there today, thirsting for my blood.

Soon we were on the outskirts of the village, about to enter the fray. Gun shots were going off everywhere; the rebels may have been under orders to contain, not kill, ad not even capture, as Coin wanted to at least _try_ to gain their trust, but that didn't mean the citizens of District Two were doing the same. In their eyes, we weren't there to destroy the Nut and take down the Capitol; oh no, we were there to kill their families, destroy their homes and steal their livelihoods. I could understand this point of view. I never did think that this was the best of plans.

"Ready, Miss Mockingjay?" whispered Finnick in my ear.

"I guess," I said.

"How about you, Mr. Mockingjay?" I felt a blush creep up my neck, and turned away from Finnick. Mr Mockingjay? Seriously? I don't even know why I blushed; it was just a stupid comment. Peeta remained silent, pretending he hadn't heard.

"Peeta? Come on, I was talking to you!"

"Oh, you meant me, did you?" grinned Peeta. "'Cause you know, it's usually the woman that changes her name."

"Right you are, then." Chuckled Finnick, trying again. "How about you, Mr. Mellark?"

"What can be expected?" He asked, then turned back to the village. Joking moods couldn't last long here. I was surprised they had surfaced at all.

Boggs ushered us forward, and we entered the village.

We didn't seem to do much; the other rebels were doing all the work. Cressida was grumbling about how she couldn't get any good shots of me when I was surrounded by guards. Boggs seemed to have the same thoughts in mind, and, according to the communicator I had in my ear, Haymitch did as well.

"You need to get her in more action!" He was yelling. "She's not doing anything!"

"I know," Muttered Boggs. "But we have our orders."

About half and hour after we first entered the village, Haymitch's muttering stopped and everything was silent.

Then we heard a humming in the background. Then the humming became a rumble. And then the rumble became a roar.

"No," said Peeta, looking up at the sky. "Not again."

"Katniss, get out of there!" Yelled Haymitch.

"But… they wouldn't bomb here! They'd risk damaging the most important District!" I cried.

"Wrong," growled Haymitch. "They wouldn't bomb the _Nut_. They have no qualms about losing a village or a couple of hundred civilians if it means they could wipe out the Mockingjay. I froze as it sunk in.

"Then I can't leave," I whispered.

"WHAT?" Haymitch was past yelling now; he could only be described as screaming. "You'll get killed! Peeta, make her listen!"

Haymitch was asking Peeta for help? Well, things must be bad. But I shook my head.

"I can't. They already know I'm here. If I leave the village, they'll be able to target me better. If I stay here, then I can help, Cressida can get some footage, and it'll be harder for them to find me."

"Harder for them to… Katniss, they wouldn't mind destroying the entire village! They don't have to find you!"

"Then it sounds like I'm dead whatever I do. Look, I can't run; you won't be able to get the hovercraft in and there is nowhere to hide. In fact, if I leave the village, I'd be doing them a favor; that way, they can kill me and not lose any of their loyal people of District Two! If I'm going to die anyway, at least let me help! Let me die fighting! I don't want to die like a coward. Mu father didn't. My sister didn't. My father died at work; my sister saving the life of something she loved. So don't you _dare_ tell me to run and hide, and get killed like a scared rabbit!"

There was no reply. I think I may have just rendered the great Haymitch Abernathy speechless. Yay for me.

"I think she's right." I turned to see Peeta, staring at me with intensity. "If we're going to go, we might as well bring as many of them as we can down with us."

"No-one is going to die," said Haymitch. "And as much as I don't like this… I think you're right too, Katniss."

"WHAT?" This time, it was Boggs' turn to exclaim in horror. "We can't let her – you - do this! What if you-"

"Relax. She's as safe there as anywhere, and wasn't the point of this trip getting her to fight?"

"Yeah, I guess so, but-"

Before he could finish, there was a huge explosion to my right, and the world erupted in flame.

I was thrown to the ground, and something landed on top of me. I felt a scream leave my lips as I realised what it was.

It was one of the soldiers assigned as our guard. Or, at least what was left of him.

His head was missing, and so was his left arm. The body was smoldering a little, and there were great big burns everywhere.

I was covered in blood.

I pushed him off me and ran. I didn't care where – I just ran. I had seen some pretty awful things in my life; but I don't think that even seeing Cato ripped to shreds by a pack of mutated wolves could even compare to _that_. Maybe it was because it was so like how I had imagined my father dying - engulfed in flames and blown to bits.

I could hear someone following me, and stopped in my tracks as I realized what a stupid move I'd just pulled. I'd just run away from my group, alone, into enemy territory with bombers zooming around the place. And not just any enemy territory either; as mentioned before, there are most likely more than a few people in this district that are after my blood.

Pushing the unhappy thoughts out of my head, I spun around and nocked an arrow, ready to dispose of my tail.

A person burst around the corner and I was about to let loose when I recognized the head of blond hair.

Peeta.

Thank goodness he was okay.

He sprinted towards me, panicked, and wrapped his arms around me.

"Don't you _dare_ do that to me again!" he growled. "I didn't know… I thought…" Then, he gasped, and pulled away from me, noticing the blood. I was completely drenched. He began searching me for a wound, asking me over and over if I was okay.

"I'm fine," I said in a hollow voice that sounded nothing like my own. "It's not mine. I guess the guards must have been between us and the explosion, and ended up shielding us."

But Peeta didn't look relieved; he might have even looked worse. He pulled me towards him again and held me tight.

"But are you _okay_?" he asked. This time, I knew he didn't mean physically.

I didn't answer. I just pulled him closer to me, and laid my head on his shoulder. We stood there for a while, oblivious to the stench of burning flesh, the tremors in the ground, the screams of children and the people yelling for us. I tired to make myself forget everything. It was just Peeta and I, nothing else.

An explosion to our left broke me out of my trance as the shockwave pushed us off our feet. We both stumbled back up, and I grabbed Peeta's shoulders.

"Peeta, we have to help," I said desperately. "We have to do something!" He nodded just as Cressida and Messalla ran up to us.

"Oh, thank goodness!" cried Cressida. "We're all so worried! Finnick and Boggs are out of their minds, they don't know where you went!"

"Cressida!" I yelled. "Calm down! We have to help, okay?" Cressida nodded. "Good. Do you reckon you'll be able to film us?"

"Katniss, I don't think-" Peeta began, but I held u my hand to stop him.

"I agree with you, there are more important things that making propos. But if we don't get out of this alive, I don't want this to have all been for nothing. Let's at least get some good footage of us fighting, doing our bit to help this war! Then maybe, just maybe, the rebels will have a bit more of a chance!" Peeta nodded.

"Of course," said Cressida, "We've been filming this whole time. I agree with you; we should do what we can."

"You do your thing, we're behind you all the way," added Messalla.

"Great," I said. "Let's go."

I seemed to enter a trance similar to the one I was in back in Eight. I shot my bow. I chased a couple of peacekeepers that seemed to have gotten out of the Nut. We helped a couple of injured rebels get back to a safer area.

The whole time, there were explosions going. I tried to ignore them, but it was impossible. I couldn't help but wonder if Finnick was okay. Surely fate wouldn't be so cruel to have him die before he could get married?

_No,_ I told myself. _Nobody is going to die._

Every so often I would shoot upwards with an exploding arrow, and sometimes I'd bring down a jet. But hardly ever. I think I got about three.

There was horror everywhere. Bits of people in the street, thrashing bodies in the mud. I wanted to just collapse on the ground and cry, but I held myself together. I am Katniss Everdeen, and I was _not_ going to give up. I was going to try my hardest to get out of there alive.

After I have no idea how long, I saw a couple of peacekeepers run into a house. In a fury, I followed them, Peeta and my camera crew hot on my heels. I shot one of them down as I ran in the door, but the others escaped to another room. I followed the hallway and ran up the stairs, jumping onto the landing. Peeta had fallen behind a little due to his leg; he was just as fast as me on flat ground, but he'd always had a bit of a problem climbing stairs. I could hear the peacekeepers muttering in one of the rooms down the hall. Not wanting to leave him, I turned to see if Peeta was okay. He was about half way up the stairs. I was about to go help him get up a little faster when I heard a creak behind me.

I spun around, arrow nocked; ready to destroy the peacekeeper that had tried to sneak up behind my back. But what I saw was no peacekeeper.

Standing behind me, and expression of intense fear etched across his face, was a small boy. He looked about eleven years old, with dark hair that fell into his blue eyes, which were locked on the head of my arrow. He looked terrified yes; but that wasn't what held my attention. It was the small knife clenched in his fist.

I was about to let go of my arrow when something inside of me froze. This wasn't the enemy. This was just a little kid, trying to survive. He probably thought I was there to kill him. I felt horror surge through me. What was I doing?

I lowered my bow, and the boy relaxed visibly; though he kept a tight grip on his knife. I put my arrow back in my quiver, and slung my bow on my arm. I knew this was probably a bad idea with peacekeepers just down the hall, but I didn't want this boy to hurt me. Not just because I wanted to stay alive, but because I didn't want him to turn into a monster. I knew what it felt like to kill some-one. It wasn't glorified, or heroic. It was awful. Their faces came back to haunt you every night, you never got rid of the guilt; you spend the rest of your life turning it over in your head, trying to figure out if what you did was right.

I couldn't do that to this boy. He had probably been brainwashed by the Capitol. Hell, all kids had been brainwashed by the Capitol. Even I had when I was his age.

I took a wary step closer to him, and he raised his knife.

"Stay back," he whispered shakily.

"I won't hurt you," I said quietly. "I promise. I'm just here to help."

"How?" He cried. "How can you be helping when all you're doing is killing people?"

I sighed, knowing he was right.

"I don't know," I whispered. The boy looked taken aback. He didn't seem to have expected that. "But you see, if we do this now, we can stop the killing later," I continued, feeling supported by his confused expression. "The Capitol has killed lots of people in the Hunger Games. If we stop them, people won't have to go there anymore."

"You can stop it?"

"I can try."

"Then try harder," he said fiercely. "My big brother died in those games three years ago. He was sixteen, and he volunteered. I told him not to, but he didn't listen! Now, my sister, she's been looking after me, 'cause my Mother got sick after Trevor died. But she wants to volunteer at the next games, but I can't let her!" The boy was shaking with sobs now, and I reached forward to pull the knife out of his hands.

"I'll stop them." I said determinedly. He surprised me, reaching forward and hugging me. I put an arm around him stiffly.

"Promise?"

"I promise." The boy looked up and me, trust in his eyes. His smile was the last thing I saw before I heard the gunshot.

Pain. That's all I could feel. Blinding pain in my side, almost like I'd been stabbed with a white hot knife.

Despite this, I could hear the boy screaming at a young girl while she dragged him away, only to be stopped by Finnick as he ran up the steps. I could hear Cressida whimpering and Messalla yelling. But most of all I could hear Peeta as he scooped me up from the floor and held me close.

"Katniss! Katniss, stay with me! I love you too much to lose you! Don't you dare die on me Katniss! Stay with me! Somebody, go get help! Finnick! Cressida! Messalla, turn the damn thing off and get a medic! It's all right, Katniss, I'm here. I won't leave you."

I wanted nothing more than to tell him that I loved him too. I knew it in that moment, lying there in his arms. But the pain in my side overcame everything else and I passed out into blackness.

* * *

**I hope that was satisfactory... I'm not sure If I did the raid on Two justice. But in case you're wondering what's going on with him, as I said before, there'll be a bit of Gale in the next chapter.**


	17. Why?

**Disclaimer: as if any of you need reminding. **

* * *

**Chapter 17**

Why?

I woke up to darkness, and I tried to figure out where I was. I could hear a couple of voices murmuring in the background, but couldn't make out words. Why was everything black?

Oh, that's right. I got shot.

Once again, I was stuck wondering whether or not I was dead. But, if I were dead, I wouldn't be able to hear anything, right? Well, no-one really knows what happens when you die.

I squeezed my eyelids together. Nope, pretty sure I was still alive. It's true that I know nothing about being dead, but I'm pretty sure that death doesn't come with a horrid throbbing in your side.

I recognised the voices. Peeta… and Haymitch. Well, it's nice to know my former mentor still cares enough about me to visit me in my sick bed. I opened my eyes, and waited for them to come into focus. Sure enough, there they were; standing in the doorway, seemingly arguing about something. Finally, their words broke through my lethargic state.

"…don't you realize what it would do to her? She needs rest!" I wondered what Peeta meant; what did they want me to do?

"Yeah, she does. But she might as well do something useful while she's at it! The doctor said she should be waking up soon, so why don't you go sit next to her and hold her hand?"

"Haymitch… I don't think this is a good idea."

"You know she wants nothing more than to make him better. This is probably the only way to do it. She'll want to help."

"I guess. I'll ask her." Peeta had a determined look on his face. Haymitch sighed.

"Great. Now go to her, I think she's awake."

Peeta's head spun around to look at me, lying in my bed, watching the two of them with my eyes wide open. About three seconds later, he was at my side, holding my hand.

"How are you feeling?"

"Honestly? Awful." I replied, grimacing. "What did they have to do to me?"

"Well, not too much considering. You have Cinna to thank for that," he said, grinning. "The bullet never reached your skin. But it left one hell of a bruise."

"You're telling me," I said, lifting the covers to see bandages wrapped around my torso. "How are you?"

"Fine, I didn't get hurt at all."

"That's not what I meant."

Peeta's face softened, then he groaned and lay his head on the bed.

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," He whispered, "What it was like for me. To have you in my arms, dying…" I reached out and stroked the back of his head, loving the feeling of his soft hair running through my fingers.

"I think I do," I said, shuddering. "Remember in the Quell, after you ran into the force field? I thought you were dead. I just couldn't…" I shook myself, remembering that I was supposed to be comforting Peeta. "But don't worry. I'm going to be fine now." Peeta nodded, looking up from the bed. I took my hand away from his hair and out it on his cheek. "I won't leave you."

Peeta hummed, closing his eyes, and held my hand to his face. We sat in silence for a little while before I mentioned what had been on my mind since Haymitch had left the room.

"What were you talking about earlier?"

"Hmm?"

"With Haymitch. You said you would ask me something." Peeta sighed and opened his eyes, dropping my hand, but keeping it entwined in his.

"Are you sure? I want you to, and I know that you'll want to, it's just, you were shot only two days ago and-"

"Wait, two days?" I nodded and was a bout to reply, but I held my hand up to silence him. "Never mind, it's not important. But what do you mean?"

"The doctors want you to go and talk to Gale."

I froze. From what I wasn't sure. Happiness? Excitement? Anger? I wanted to see him; he was my best friend.

Yes, that's right.

Was.

I don't know where my best friend is now. He seems to have disappeared. But if there is any chance of him still being in there, deep down, then I was going to find him.

"When?"

"As soon as you feel well enough."

"I'm well enough." I tried to hop out of the bed, but Peeta held me down.

"No, not yet. The doctors have to see you awake first, and _then_ you can go. And you have to be careful; your side is still really sore."

I sighed, and lay back down, still unsure about seeing Gale. I mean, last time I saw him, he tried to kill Peeta! I know that wasn't Gale acting, but that doesn't really matter at the moment. Trying to kill Peeta is an act I cannot forgive.

I shook my head. Did I just think that? Yes, I know that I could never forgive a person that consciously tried to murder Peeta, but Gale didn't know what he was doing. He'd been Hijacked! I thought back to just after I had been shot, trying to remember what Peeta had said. I gazed into his eyes, and the memory hit me.

"_Katniss, stay with me! I love you too much to lose you! Don't you dare die on me, Katniss! Stay with me!"_

Replaying it in my head, I could remember how those words had made me feel. How every little thing Peeta did made me feel. He affected me more than anybody else in the world did. For example, if Finnick or Haymitch smiled at me, I'd think nothing of it. But when Peeta smiled at me, I would think about it for ages, trying to figure out what it meant. Why? Did I love Peeta Mellark?

That question seemed to be repeated quite often in my head. I had always known what I had wanted when I was little; I'd grow up, support my family, work in the mines and hunt, with Gale at my side. I would never marry. I would never fall in love. Because I could never have children. I couldn't afford to create a new life, only for it to get sent to the Hunger Games and die. After my first Games, that resolve only strengthened; everyone knew that the children of Victors were targeted, and Snow hated me in particular; I knew any child of mine would not live to see their thirteenth birthday.

But then the Capitol had forced Peeta and I together. They were going to force us to get married and have children, and most certainly send them to the Games to get massacred. But now, we were in District Thirteen, away from the Capitol. If we win this war, there will be no more Games. I won't have to worry.

I shook my head. There may be no more Games, but I had had the idea of no marriage and no children ingrained in my brain since I first learned to think. It wasn't going to disappear that easily.

But… I still feel something for Peeta. How? It makes no sense! And this entire thing would be so much easier if I could just forget about my feelings for him and move on to more important things, like the war, and Gale. But I can't… and the odd thing is I don't think I want to.

I remember when I was younger, and my mother was mumbling about how hard it was to watch her children in the reaping, wondering if we would be picked, praying that we wouldn't. I remember asking her why she married father in the first place when she knew that she would have to wait and wish during the reaping. She looked at me so intently I grew nervous. I didn't know what the expression on her face was; but now I am certain it was sadness. She told me something that day, something I thought I had forgotten.

"_Katniss, there are many things in this world that we will never understand. There's death, for one. But that is not all. We will never understand the most powerful force on the earth: do you know what that is, Katniss? Love. We will never understand it, but we can feel it, and it makes us stronger. There are some people in this world that are immune to love, people that only care about money and power. They will never be as strong as those of us that have the ability to love. There are many types of love; love for a child, your parents, or your friends. Then, there is love for another person… your special person. You can't chose who you fall in love with; it just happens. And when you fall in love, there is not much that you can do other than let it catch you up and guide you on your journey. I fell in love with your father, and I let that love guide me. I tried to fight it at first, for a couple of different reasons. First, my father didn't want me seeing a boy from the Seam. Then there is the point you made Katniss; I didn't think I could bear going through the reaping, watching your father's reapings were awful; what would it be like if it were my own child? But you can't fight love, and it took me away anyway. It's not a bad thing; I know when I say it like that it makes it seem like it was against my will. But it wasn't. Love was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not once to I regret loving your father."_

I think it was the longest and wisest speech I have ever heard my mother give. Of course I didn't understand it back then. Hell, I don't think I understood it a week ago. But now, I think I might.

I can't fight my feelings; even if I do, they'll surface anyway. I might as well give into them.

Problem is I'm not sure if I can.

I shook my head, thinking back. I thought about all the times, recently, that Peeta had held me in his arms, and how safe I'd felt. I'd known for a while that I could not live without him. Maybe this'll be easier than I thought. I'd just do what my mother told me all those years ago, and see where my feelings took me.

So, was it love? I'm not sure; but I know it's something. I had felt so sure about it before, but I guess, as I have never been in love before, I don't know what it is like. Maybe it will turn into love.

Did I say maybe? I think, no, I know, that if I follow my mothers advice, it will turn into love… If I'm not already there.

~~0~~

The doctor came to see me about half an hour after I woke up; apparently, they had much more pressing cases than me; I wasn't on my deathbed. They gave me the okay, and I left the room with Peeta. I almost sprinted to Gales room, and dashed through the door, but stopped when I realized Peeta wasn't following me.

"Peeta?"

"I can't go in there. I'll ruin whatever progress they've made."

"You don't have to actually go and see him; just stand on the other side of the glass. He won't be able to see you, and he won't be able to hurt you, I just…" I trailed off, not wanting to admit how much I needed him. But Peeta just shook his head.

"I can't, Katniss. I can't risk that he'll hear me or something. Anyway, I have to go talk to Finnick and Annie."

"Peeta…" I whispered, moving closer to him. He sighed, and put his hands on my shoulders.

"You'll be fine, Katniss. You go talk to Gale; he needs you now. I'll go and talk to Annie, and then I'll be back and waiting outside this door before you know it, okay?" I nodded, beaten, and he smiled. "You'll be fine," he whispered. Then, he leaned in and lightly pressed his lips against mine. Before I could react, he pulled away and pushed me towards the door. "Now go," he said softly. I locked eyes with him as I went into the room, and didn't look away until the door had closed between us.

"Katniss?"

I spun around to see who had spoken, and I saw her. I gasped.

"Johanna?" I felt elated, then guilty. The way Finnick and Haymitch had told it, Johanna had saved my life in the Quell by leading Enobaria away, and I hadn't been to see her since she got rescued. I had been so worried about Gale, then Peeta, then myself, and then Gale again, that I had forgotten all about her. "Are… Are… How have you been?"

"How have I been?" Snorted Johanna. "I've been locked up in a cell in the Capitol, tortured everyday, watching people go out and them come back in speaking gibberish… waiting, just waiting for the day I would crack. Wondering when, if ever, they were going to kill me. Wanting to die, but still scared that my life was over! How do you think I've been?"

I didn't say anything. What could I say?

"But I'm not why we're here right now," she continued. "I'm fine now."

"Why _are_ you here?"

"Gale," she said simply.

"But… you don't even know him!" I said. "How could you help?"

"You're forgetting that Gale and I were stuck in high security cells right next to each other for the past… I don't even know how long it's been! Months? Weeks? The people here haven't seen fit to tell me!"

"Over a month," I said quickly, thinking back. "I'm not too sure, either. At least two months. But you and Gale were together in the Capitol?"

"I just said that, didn't I?"

"So you know him. But, why are you here? And why do they want me here? How can we help?"

"Well, you know how the hijacking works, right?"

"They show him filming of the past while injecting him with tracker jacker venom."

"Right. So, all of his memories have been altered so that he wants to kill Peeta." I flinched, but Johanna didn't notice. "So, the doctors think that seeing people he is familiar with might help him."

"But, won't you being there just remind him of the torture?"

"Not really. You see, we were right next to each other for a long time. But in the last… I don't know, week or so, when they were hijacking him, he was moved to the hospital. He only came back rarely, and usually while I was in my own torture session, so we didn't see much of each other during that. The doctors are hoping me being with him will help him remember the time immediately before the hijacking. You and his family will help him remember the times before he was captured."

"So, is that what I have to do today?"

"No. Today is just a trial. As you say, my presence might make him remember his torture. And you being there might make him think of Peeta."

I froze. I hadn't thought of that.

"So today is just to see how they think it will work," finished Johanna.

"But I can still talk to him, right?"

"Of course." This time, it wasn't Johanna who answered, but a doctor coming out of Gale's room. He nodded at Johanna. "You can go in now."

"Thanks." She entered the room.

"What about me?" I asked.

"You can go in after Johanna. We think you'll be more likely to have an effect on him, so we want her to go first."

"So that she can see him before me, in case what ever I do makes him incapable of talking to anyone else. That makes sense." I felt my stomach fall through my feet. Was he really so bad that just seeing me could do that to him? I knew of course, ever since attacked Peeta, that he was in a terrible condition. Really terrible. This clinched it.

"Right. Johanna shouldn't be long, for as I'm sure she explained to you, this is just a test run. You can watch if you want." He nodded behind me, and I turned to see the glass window. This time, it was uncovered, and I could see Johanna, standing a little way away from Gale.

Gale was sitting on his bed, looking at Johanna with a blank expression on his face. He looked a little healthier than last time; his bruises were starting to fade, and he looked like he had gained a little weight. His eyes were still the same though. Blank, dull, and cold.

Johanna seemed to be doing most of the talking. Gale would respond every now and then with what seemed like an odd word or too. I couldn't hear anything, but there was a speaker above the window; I figured they could turn the audio on and off.

After a little while, Johanna came back in, looking a little stressed. The doctor asked her a couple of questions, then nodded, and she turned to leave. Just before she did, though, she looked at me.

"Brace yourself," she muttered. "It'll be hard. Good luck." Then she walked out the door.

I stared at Gale, who was looking at the ceiling, through the glass. No matter how changed he was, that was still Gale. He was in there somewhere.

I took a deep breath, and, with the doctor's approval, went through the door.

When the door opened, Gale glanced up. His gray eyes bored into me, and I felt my confidence disappear. He wasn't lurching forward to try and kill me, but he wasn't smiling either. There wasn't ay of that old warmth in his features. They were all hard and cold. I stayed rooted to the spot, unable to move. I had a feeling he wasn't going to hurt me, but I didn't feel like I was safe. This person was a product of the Capitol. President Snow modelled them. And anything created by Snow was created to be my enemy.

"You can come closer you know." I jumped. Gale's voice was nothing like it was before. It was like a knife, cutting through not only the silence, but also my heart. "I won't hurt you. You're not like that _monster_."

"Monster?" I whispered, taking a step forward. "Do you mean Snow?"

"No. _Peeta Mellark_. He'll hurt you Katniss, I recommend you stay away from him." He didn't sound concerned, but angry. It was almost like he was ridiculing me.

"He's not a monster. Peeta is trying his best to help end this war, to stop the Capitol from doing harm!" I managed to sound confident somehow, but It was far from what I felt.

"The Capitol did nothing wrong," he spat. I froze. What did he just say? "They didn't start this war, Katniss. You're the reason all these people have died."

"_What_? How can you say that?" My voice was shaking now; he had voiced what I had been worried about for months. What if he was right? What if all of this was my fault? _No,_ said a voice inside my head. _This war was waiting to happen. And it's the right thing to do. Loads of people, _innocent children,_ die every year because of the Capitol. It must be stopped._ "What of the Hunger Games?" I asked, feeling a little stronger. "Are they right?"

"No."

"Then how can you say the Capitol did nothing wrong?"

"The Hunger Games may not have been right, but they kept the people in line. If it weren't for the Hunger Games this would have happened a lot sooner! Even more people would have died."

"Where are you?" I whispered. "Gale, where are you? This isn't you!"

"I'm right here. Have you gone blind in the last few weeks? Oh, how tragic! Katniss Everdeen is blind! How will we live! Of course, no-one cares about the people getting _tortured_!"

"I care! Gale, the whole time you've been locked up in that _place_ I've been worried! Why do think I'm here now? To yell at you?"

"Well, it seems like it." He seemed a little calmer, even if he was still glaring at me. I chose to ignore his last comment.

"Do you know how many people have been a wreck? Not just me, but your mother, Rory, Vick and Posy! My mother, as well. Most of the other refugees from Twelve that you saved. You saved them, Gale! Do you even remember that?" He seemed about to respond, but I didn't let him. "Even Prim-" I stopped. It was too hard to talk about Prim, especially now.

"I've already seen my family," sneered Gale. "And they were a whole lot kinder to me than you're being."

"Well, I'm sure you didn't yell at them! What has the Capitol done to you that makes you forget the five years we spent together? Five years, Gale! And what, does that just not matter?"

For once, Gale looked like he had nothing to say. I took that as a que to continue.

"Gale, we've been through so much together. Please, just try to remember!" I said softly, yet urgently. I looked away from him and down at the floor.

Gale still didn't say anything. He just sat there, staring. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"You helped Rory." It wasn't a question, so I kept waiting. "He told me. I was still too drugged to be able to talk at the time, but I could still hear him. He was telling me what happened. You helped him, in… District Eight, or something. I think… I think you saved his life."

I nodded. What was there to say?

"Thankyou." My eyes snapped back up to him. That wasn't what I had been expecting.

"For what?"

"For looking after my brother when I couldn't." The harsh edge was gone. He still wasn't my Gale, but he was as close as he had been since he got here.

"Well, you looked after Prim when I was in the arena," I whispered, wincing.

"What happened?" Hissed Gale, back to his cold self. "Where's Prim?"

"She's…" I felt tears well up in my eyes. I didn't want to say it out loud.

"Katniss."

"She didn't get to the bunker in time, during the bombings."

"WHAT?" Yelled Gale. "Katniss, what have you done?"

I took a step back, knowing what he was going to say, and wishing I could just block him out.

"You killed her," He pointed at me. "You started this war, you killed her! Why did you have to do this? Why? You'll kill all of us!"

"Gale, I did not kill my sister," I hissed. I wasn't yelling, but there was so much anger in my voice that Gale, even in his awful state, shrunk back. "What do you think I should have done? How do you think I could have stopped this? Not volunteered for the Games? She would have died in the first day."

"You could have let that mongrel die." I knew who he was referring to, and narrowed my eyes.

"No, I couldn't have."

"Yes, you could've! And none of this would have happened!" Now that we were back on the subject of Peeta, Gale was going wild. His pupils were dilating, his hands were clenching and unclenching, and his teeth gnashing together. "He'll kill you Katniss! He'll kill all of us! You have to get him now, before it's too late!"

"Gale, calm down," I said, backing away further until I was pressed against the wall. "Please."

Gale turned to me, and stared at me, his face twisted in rage. I stayed back against the wall, wondering if a doctor would come and help me. No one did though.

After a couple of minutes, Gale started taking deep breaths, and seemed to be trying to calm.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I can't… I just…" I nodded.

"Don't worry about it."

Gale seemed to consider me for a moment, almost like he had something to say, but wasn't sure if he should. He seemed to come to a decision, and began to speak again.

"You know, you're nothing like I remember." I froze. Did this mean what I thought it did? Was he going to say that whatever the Capitol made him think was wrong?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, before all of this happened, we were friends right?"

I nodded again, excitement and hope flooding my body.

"I can remember being friends. I can remember wanting to be more than friends. I remember thinking that you were perfect for me, and that you could do no wrong, other than choosing to be with _him._ But I can see clearly now. My mind isn't misted over by _love_ or _friendship_." Gales face had become a hard mask, and he was all but spitting his words out of his mouth, forcing each one through my body. My previous hope was long gone, and had been replaced with dread. I wondered yet again what the Capitol could possibly have done to Gale to make him like this. "Every thing you did hurt me. I just shrugged it off, telling myself that it wasn't your fault, and that the Capitol was forcing you to do those things. But you know, I don't think that was your reason. Just your excuse. Do you have any idea how much you hurt me, Katniss?"

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I was a frozen statue, waiting for him to continue. As he spoke, I could feel the ice creeping up my body. Through my toes, my feet, and up my legs, freezing everything as it went.

"Every day I'd see you, parading about the place with _him_. You'd talk to me, yes. You'd hunt with me, yes. But you weren't my Katniss anymore. The first moment you got, you'd run away from me and skip back to _Peeta_. Every time I saw you I prayed that I could get you to come over to me. And every day you turned back around and ran along to your _Victors Village._ That killed me, Katniss. Every time you turned away, I felt like my heart was ripped in two. Even during the few months between the Games and the Victory Tour that you weren't talking to him, he was all you'd talk _about_. It was '_why can't Peeta see it my way?_', or '_Why won't he let me explain?_' It was _pathetic_. At first, I was glad that you were ridiculing him so much, but after a while, I realized that you were – are – just obsessed with everything he does.

"We had spent so much time together in the past, years of being friends. Yet, you threw it all away in a moment for someone else. If he asked you jump, you asked how high. If I asked you to so much as talk to me, you turned me away in favor of a wedding shoot, or something else just as ridiculous. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"

I wanted to tell him it wasn't true; I had wanted to talk to him. All those months between the Games, I had wanted to see him. It was _him_ that wouldn't talk to _me._ But I could see his point. From his perspective, I had been shunning him all that time… and, during the small amounts of time that I was with him, I was complaining about Peeta, or that Capitol forcing me to be with Peeta, or complaining about how Peeta was going to try and volunteer for the Quell. In a way Gale was right… And I had no argument against him.

Yes, the old Katniss would have fought. The old Katniss would have shoved it in Gales face and forced him to look at the bigger picture. But the old Katniss was dead. She had died along with Prim. And all that I could see was the destruction I had caused.

"I used to believe you were so perfect," continued Gale, still hurling his words at me like poisoned darts, "But now I see the truth. I've realized what a fool I was back then. For all I can care, _he_ can have you. I'll just warn you though. He's going to try to kill you, Katniss. Watch your step. He's tried to kill me many times. But, if he's what you want, I'll stay out of the way. Maybe you can destroy him the same way you destroyed me."

He stopped, and just stared at me, waiting for my response. When I didn't give him any, he spoke up again.

"I am glad that you were around to help my family while I was in the Capitol, Katniss, and I have already thanked you for that. However, I do not want you talk to them anymore, you understand? I think that Hawthorne family has seen enough of your poison over the years. So just stay away from them, alright?"

I was so shocked at this outburst that I suddenly managed to find my voice.

"What?" I exclaimed. "You can't speak for them! I love Hazelle, Rory, Vick and Posy like my own family!"

"That's what I'm worried about," He hissed. "Look at what has happened to your sister!"

"I saved Rory's life! Does that count for nothing?"

"Yes. It was lucky, a spur of the moment, and I think you would save your own skin should it happen again."

"That's ridiculous! Gale, they're the only family I have left!"

"That's not true. Or have you forsaken your mother already? Just going to leave her to die, are you?"

"How dare you!"

"What, no answer?"

"Gale Hawthorne. You can insult me. You can tell me not to visit you again. Hell, you can try to kill my Peeta, and I would try to forgive you – because I know this isn't you, this is the tracker jacker venom talking. But you _can not_ tell me not to talk to my family."

"They aren't your family. They're mine."

"Exactly," I hissed. Confusion flashed across Gale's face, but I didn't give him a chance to respond. I dashed through the door, slamming it behind me.

I groaned, and pressed my forehead into the cold steel of the door. I jumped when I felt warm arms wrap around me, but relaxed when I realised it was Peeta.

"Well, that could have been worse," came the falsely cheerful voice of the doctor. I tensed up again, but forced myself to calm. He only meant well. He was only trying to cheer me up. And he was right. It could have gone a lot worse.

Peeta noticed me tensing, and asked the doctor if we could leave.

"In a second," he replied. "I just need to ask Katniss a couple of questions.

To be fair, he did only ask me a couple. How I thought Gale reacted to certain things, how different he was to normal and so on. After only a few minutes, we were able to retreat back to our room. Thankfully, Finnick wasn't there – probably planning his wedding with Annie, so we were alone. We sat on the bed, is arms still tightly around me. I stayed silent. I felt like my life was coming to an end. What was I without Gale? He had always been there. Always.

"I'm sorry."

I stared up at Peeta with wide eyes.

"For what?"

"This is my fault."

My eyes grew, if possible, wider.

"How'd you figure that?"

"If it weren't for me, Gale wouldn't be like he is right now. He would still be your friend."

I realised that the doctor must have turned the audio on when I was with Gale, so Peeta would have heard… well, the end of our argument at least.

"No, Peeta. It's not your fault. It's not even nearly your fault. If you weren't here, they would have hijacked him to try and kill me, I'm sure of it."

"But that's what I'm confused about!" He huffed. "Why me? I don't mean to sound selfish or anything, I'm glad it's not you."

"Peeta, I think it would be impossible for you to be selfish." He rolled his eyes, then became serious again.

"What I don't understand is why they would want to try and kill me. I'm really nothing special. It's you that's forcing this rebellion along, Katniss. What am I? Nothing. Why did they waste their time getting Gale hijacked against _me_? All it's done is rip your friendship apart…" Peeta stopped, comprehension dawning on his face. "That's why," he whispered. "They did it to rip you and Gale apart even further. You see, it is my fault. Katniss, I'm sorry!"

He pulled me closer and pressed his face into my hair. I pushed him away slightly, so that I was still in his arms, but so that he was forced to look at me.

"Peeta, it wasn't your fault. I think you're right, that the Capitol did this to get to me, but not to force me away from Gale. He could have done something much simpler to Gale to do that; for example, he could have made Gale hate me even more, rather than making him hate you. So, that's not why I think they did it. Now, I don't mean to sound conceited or anything," I said, similar to what Peeta had before, "I'm just sure that this is right. You see, I reckon they didn't mean for Gale to fail in his attempted murder to force away our friendship. I reckon they wanted him to succeed in killing you."

"But that brings us back to my original point. Why?"

"Because they knew that it would rip me apart." Peeta sighed.

"Katniss, I don't think that having your best friend murder your other friend would rip you apart. I think it would just fuel your anger and make you even more formidable."

"Maybe, if it was another friend that Gale would have been killing. But you're so much more than a friend to me, Peeta." His eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly. I took a deep breath. I needed to say this. I've known it for a while now. If I don't say it now, I might never be able to pick up the courage. "I can't live without you. You're a part of me now, Peeta, and I-"

"Stop." Peeta covered my mouth with his hand, his eyes still wide. "Don't say something you'll regret later. I know you're stressed out right now, and I know you're probably not feeling yourself. Just stay quiet for now, and we'll talk about it later, okay?"

"No," I cried. "Peeta, this isn't a spur of the moment thing. I've known for a long time, so I know it isn't because of what just happened with Gale. I sure about it since that time in Two, when I… got shot." Peeta winced at the memory, but I didn't. It was a nice memory for me, even if I had been in a life-threatening situation at the time. Peeta had made that seem insignificant with just three simple words. "Peeta, you remember what you said to me that day, right? When you were yelling for help?"

Peeta nodded, apparently to stunned to find words. I'm sure he knew what I was talking about, but seemed to be trying not to believe it.

Suddenly, my nerves returned. What was this? The mighty Katniss Everdeen, who could blow up career supplies and shoot a squirrel for a hundred meters away was afraid to tell a boy how she felt? Well, I guess I never was one for emotions.

Instead, I sighed, and reached up, pulling Peeta down towards me, and I kissed him.

Peeta tired to push me away, but I held him tighter, and just kept kissing. Soon enough, he wrapped his arms around me and started to kiss me back. He pulled me closer, and I pressed myself up against his chest. I bit down on his bottom lip, and a moan rippled through his throat. I gasped against his lips as he grabbed my hips, and I grasped at his hair, kissing him with more passion than I had previously thought possible.

After a while, we broke away for air, and I leaned against his chest. My nerves gone, I smiled, and said what I knew I should have said long before.

"I love you Peeta."

Peeta pulled away, and stared into my eyes.

"Remember what I-"

"No, I mean it. I really, really mean it. I've known for a while now." Peeta's face softened, and he leaned in to kiss me again.

"I love you too, Katniss."

* * *

**Alright, they're finally together! Yay! And, it's my longest chapter so far. Man, this took forever and three History classes to write**. **What else are History classes good for, anyway? And yes, Gale is a but tetchy in this chapter... (a bit?) But don't worry, Katniss still gets to talk to Rory later...**

**In the next chapter there will be a wedding!  
**


	18. Wedding

**Sorry for the long wait, I've been a bit busy. This is a bit short, but don't worry. The action will start again in the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I think you know the drill by now... Anything you recognize 'aint mine.**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Wedding

"We still need the cake! Where is it?"

"The cake? I thought Peeta had it! Who cares about the cake? I need that net!"

"Has anyone seen where the weavers put the dress?"

"_Has anyone seen the cake_?"

"Hello? Looking for flowers here. The hunters were meant to bring me back four bushels of wildflowers, where are they?"

"I saw them over-"

"Wildflowers? Surely a cake is more important! And I asked first!"

"Has anyone seen the vicar this morning?"

"Ugh!"

"Shush! You _have_ to have flowers at a wedding; cakes are optional, especially when you're low on food. And you! Where? Where did you see them?"

"Over by the-"

"Are we _absolutely sure_ that no-one has seen the CAKE?"

"Calm down, Casey, it's in the kitchen. I've just finished it." Peeta's soothing voice cut through the clamor of the dinning room, where it seemed like hundreds of people were trying to organise the wedding. "Jane, the hunters left the flowers over there on that table. Gabby, the vicar is in his room getting dressed, and you there – sorry, I don't know your name - Annie's dress is being delivered to her room as we speak. Now go on, get to it!"

I sighed in relief as the group of people left, but they were only replaced by another throng of frantic women.

"Honestly, I don't remember weddings being such an issue back in Twelve," I muttered as Peeta pushed his way towards me.

"This is a nightmare," he groaned as yet another women consulted him on the whereabouts of the cake. "If I ever get married, I'm having nothing to do with this nonsense."

"You won't have to," I laughed, "Finnick and Annie are currently being distracted. Or did you forget?"

"Well then, I refuse to put anybody else through this torture."

"How thoughtful of you."

"Uh huh. Didn't Annie want to help though?"

"I think she did, but Coin wanted the people to do it to 'help boost morale'. You know, give them something else to think about. And they do seem to be enjoying it, don't you think?" I eyed a group of three women as the rushed past, all clutching clumps of fabric in their hands. Peeta rolled his eyes, then grabbed my arm and pulled me through an equally busy hallway and into a mercifully empty room. I closed my eyes and lifted my head, sighing in relief. I could still hear the clamour going on outside, but it was much quieter.

"I do," answered Peeta, "but I still don't get why the entire district has to help!"

"Not the entire district. It just seems like most of the women – there aren't many men out there. I think they're all hiding."

"I don't blame them," he muttered. "But my question still stands."

"Well, besides the entire district volunteering to help-" Peeta snorted at this, and I rolled my eyes. "-they are Victors, and the marriage between two Victors is no small thing. Especially when one is Finnick Odair, and the other is, no offense to Annie at all, mentally unstable. This is going to be big news."

"Wait, you mean Coin wants the Capitol to find out about this?"

"Well, you'd think so, seeing as she's broadcasting it to the entire country. That's why everyone is helping; it's going to be massive."

"Well, I guess it makes sense. After his propo, the rest of Panem know that he only- wait. Did you just say that the wedding is going to be broadcast to the whole country?"

"I believe I did."

"But… Does Annie know about this?"

"No, she doesn't, no-one thinks she'll cope with it. Finnick does though," I added, correctly identifying the look on his face, "And he says it's fine. He's willing to do anything to help with the rebellion – just as long as Annie doesn't find out yet."

"When did _you_ find out?"

"A little while ago, when I was talking to Finnick. You were doing the cake."

Peeta nodded.

"How many other people know?"

"A few, such as the main decorators and such. I think Finnick wants to tell Annie about the wedding being filmed after the ceremony, so she doesn't find out from the wrong person. He just doesn't want her to be more nervous than she needs to be during the actual thing, is all, so there isn't any need to hide it from to many people."

Peeta nodded again. I had nothing else to say, so I stretched out on the floor, tuning out the clamour and enjoying the relative peacefulness. I heard Peeta lie next to me, and smiled as he twinned or fingers together. We just lay there for a while, enjoying each others company, feeling like we were cut off from the world and the war, safe in our own little world, wishing we could stay there, away from everything.

To bad nothing like that every happens.

Haymitch, as usual, was the one that found us, and came bursting through the door, yelling that the entire district had stopped the wedding preparations in order to find us. I rolled my eyes as Peeta assured Haymitch we'd be out in a sec. Honestly. As if those wedding obsessed women would stop for anything other than the wedding itself.

I groaned as we stepped back out into the chaos. I would have thought they'd be done by now, what with the wedding being only an hour away, but apparently they weren't ready yet. Everything had to be perfect. I didn't get it. Why was there what seemed like hundreds of women charging through the hallways yelling about every little thing for just one wedding? I know it was for Annie and Finnick, and I know everything has to right for the cameras, but still. There aren't even this many people running the Hunger Games! But then, these people don't get much excitement in any form other than a bomb raid. I guess it's good for them to enjoy themselves for once.

An hour later, everything was, mercifully, silent. Well, silent compared to that morning – people were chattering, but it wasn't nearly as loud as before. Everyone had been shoved into the dining hall, with those that couldn't fit either standing in the hallways or watching on the T.V screens in other rooms. As we were both important and friends of Annie and Finnick, Peeta, Haymitch, Johanna and I had some of the best seats in the place. I also guess Coin wanted the cameras to have a good view of us, too. We were in the front, right up against the aisle.

The place no longer looked like a dining hall. It was, in one word, magnificent. All the chairs had been rearranged into rows with an aisle down the middle, and each chair was covered in white cloth. There were wonderful decorations covering the walls and ceiling, and there were several bunched of flowers surrounding the room. I thought this was a bit strange – people rarely went to the surface, and if they did, it was for missions or food, not flowers. It reflected the effort everyone had put into the wedding.

At the front of the room was the raised platform Coin sometimes made speeches on. It too had flowers on it, and a couple of shining decorations in the shape of fish. Standing in the center of the stage was Finnick. He was wearing similar clothes to the rest of us, except they had been died for longer to become black, rather than grey. It wasn't the clothes that made him look as amazing as he did. He seemed to be glowing, and there was such a smile on his face as if he couldn't be happier.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. And I mean quiet this time. A soft tune struck up, and Finnick's smile stretched into a grin as his eyes focused on something behind me. I turned and gasped as I caught sight of Annie. She was wearing a white dress, which, like Finnick's, was just the normal clothing, except hers wasn't died at all. Her face reflected Finnick's joy, and she too seemed to glow as she glided down the aisle towards Finnick. She was walking by herself, as she had no father, brother or other close relatives or even a friend to walk with her. But she didn't seem to mind. Her eyes were on Finnick, and she knew she would never be alone again.

I smiled as she climbed up the steps and took Finnick's hands. They deserved this. No other couple had been through what the Capitol had forced them through.

I was so focused on watching Finnick and Annie, I did not hear the Vicar begin to speak. When they had said their vows, the Vicar pulled out a large fishing net and wrapped it around the two of them. I figured it must have been a District Four tradition. Then, after they had kissed, grins still plastered across their faces, the two of them stumbled back down the aisle, finding it a little bit difficult to walk when tied together in a net.

The moment they were out of the room, there was a huge scuffle and a large amount of noise as everyone picked up their chair and hurried to move it to the sides of the room, where tables were being brought in. As the dinning room was the only room big enough for such an event, the ceremony and the reception were being held in the same room.

I sighed as Peeta and I stood out of the way. Weddings in District Twelve were so much more simple and practical. What did the huge parade matter? The main thing was being joined to the person you love, right?

A little while later, the tables were in place and the music started. All the tables had been arranged in a large circle, leaving an empty space in the center. This was where Annie and Finnick headed.

A soft, slow tune began to play and the couple began to dance. They were pretty good dancers, thanks to the training they'd received from the Capitol when they became Victors, but that wasn't what made everybody watch them so intently. They were just so absorbed in each other, as if there was nothing else in the entire world that mattered to them, that they glided around the room as if they were flying. I don't think I'd ever seen Finnick so happy before.

When the song was over, other people began to walk on to the dance floor. Peeta smiled and took my hand, and I quickly backed away, knowing what he was thinking.

"No."

"Aw, come on Katniss, you know it will be fun!"

"No, I don't."

"Katniss…"

"Peeta."

"Just one dance?"

"You know that if I say yes to one, you'll only blackmail me into doing more."

Peeta just smiled wider.

"Exactly." I crossed my arms defiantly.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Be a little quieter, you don't want to cause a scene do you?"

I looked around to see that he was right; people were watching us.

"You know the cameras will be wanting us to dance," he continued.

"But…"

"Just one."

"Promise?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"I promise. Now, would I ever break a promise to you?"

I looked up into his eyes, and I knew he wouldn't; even on something as trivial as this, he would do as I liked… well, to a point. He did just get me to agree to dance with him.

Still grinning, Peeta grabbed my hand and pulled me to the middle of the room, near where Finnick and Annie was, still lost in each other's eyes. We started to dance to the music the same way Finnick and Annie were; the way the Capitol had taught us. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he put his arms at my waist. After a while, I realized I was enjoying myself. I leaned against Peeta and he pulled me closer, pressing his forehead against my hair.

"See, this isn't so bad, is it?"

"Well…" I began. Peeta lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes wide. I laughed at his expression, "Okay, I agree with you. This isn't so bad at all."

"Good," he chuckled, "but just 'not so bad'?"

"No," I whispered. "It's more than just 'not so bad'."

Peeta leaned down, bringing our faces less than three centimetres apart. I stretched up a little, and our lips were about to touch when-

"May I cut in?"

I jumped away from Peeta and looked behind me to see who had interrupted us to see Johanna. She looked a little pale and stressed, and when I saw her, my annoyance faded. Peeta and I both nodded at the same time; she didn't look like she just wanted a dance, it seemed like she was on a mission or something. As it turned out, she was.

When I passed her, she whispered;

"Gale's been asking for you. Go to his room now, I'll keep Peeta here." I nodded, realising what she was doing. After the last time, Peeta wouldn't want me to go see Gale alone; he couldn't go in of course, but he would want to watch, and I felt like I needed to be alone with Gale. Well, as alone as we could get with all the doctors watching.

I walked out of hall so I didn't arouse suspicion, but the moment I was free of the crowds I took off at a run, taking the fastest route to the hospital. When I got to Gale's room, I was greeted by the same doctor as before, who ran me through a couple of things.

"He's made quite a bit of progress lately," he said, "and He's been asking for you a lot. Rory gave us the idea of showing him some images of you and Peeta while he was under the influence of morphling, which calms the body; kind of like the opposite to the tracker jacker venom. The only problem is, we don't have any footage of him interacting with you two. You see, the Capitol must have had cameras laced all throughout District Twelve, so they had footage of Gale in his normal life, talking to you and sometimes Peeta. However, we have none, and can only work off what the Capitol has broadcast, such as the Games – which isn't that useful due to it's violent nature – and our own filming. So we've hit a couple of snags. But he is still improving quite a bit. We just don't know what his reaction will be when he sees you though, but it should be better than last time.

An image of Gale yelling at me about how much I'd hurt him coursed through my mind, and I shuddered.

"I don't think it's possible to be worse than last time," I whispered. The doctor smiled sympathetically, and gestured to the door.

"You can go in when you're ready. Be careful, and good luck." I nodded, and pushed open the door. No point in putting it off.

I closed the door behind me before I turned to face him, and act that seemed to amuse him.

"You know, everybody does that, like they think I'll try to run away, killing everyone in my path."

"Well, you haven't given us much reason to think otherwise," I snapped, my anger already flaring up. Gale's eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched.

"You haven't seen me in a week, Katniss. How do you know nothing has changed?"

"Maybe the way you're talking to me now."

"I didn't want you to come here just so I could yell at you, you know. But now, I think I believe what the Capitol said. You're just an arrogant little girl who thinks she's the Queen of the universe. Maybe you should get a hold of yourself."

"Why did you ask me to come here then?"

"It doesn't matter now, just go."

"No."

"What?"

"Gale, you used to be my friend. I won't just give up on you!"

"Used to be?"

"Yes, used o be! After what you said last time, I'm not sure I want to be your friend anymore!"

"Well, at least your not sure," Gale took a deep breath. "That means you haven't made your mind up yet."

I stared at him. What?

"I'm sorry. I try to control it, but when I see you, in my mind I see you with _him_, and I can't help it. I hate it!"

"You hate it?"

"Yes. I don't want to, but I know when you aren't with me you're with him, and when I see you all I want to do is rip you apart for taking his side, he so… uh! I hate this! I hate him! He has to be destroyed! And you! You took his side! Get away from me!"

I stepped back. I expected to feel hurt, but I didn't. Maybe I had been expecting it. I felt my anger course through my body, and glared at him.

"Fine. If that's how you feel, then fine. Goodbye Gale." The anger in his eyes faded and was replaced by fear.

"No! Don't go! I'm sorry! I meant to say it before, but I didn't! I'm sorry I said all those things last time!"

"No, Gale," I said, turning away from him. "You shouldn't have. Now I know how you feel; you hate me now, and you don't mean it when you apologize. I'm going now, I hope Johanna and the doctors have better luck with you than I did; they'll need it."

"No! Come back! Katniss!"

"To late," I said, my voice strangely cold, "You had your chance."

"Fine!" He screamed, much like I had before. "Go to _him_. You'll soon realize I was right! Despite all you've done to me, I stood by you, and now you're throwing it away!"

"You stood by me? I hadn't noticed. Telling me to leave, and talking about murdering the man I love is _not_ the right way to show me that."

Gale looked like he'd been slapped.

"L-love?" he whispered.

"Goodbye Gale," I said venomously. "Have a nice life."

I stormed out of the room, and, not even stopping to talk to the doctor, I ran to the room where Peeta and I had hid that morning. I sat on the floor and took several deep breaths. I had known Gale was gone for a long time, I just hadn't wanted to admit it. But now I had, and I would be able to move on.

I thought about the past few weeks, and realized that the whole time I'd been hoping that Gale would make a miraculous recovery. It wasn't going to happen, so I should just live my life. The old Gale was gone; this new Gale wanted nothing to do with me, and the only thing I could do to help him was stay away.

I spend a couple more minutes staring at the wall, then got up, and headed back to the wedding. This was a time for happiness – I didn't want to ruin it thinking about Gale. This was Finnick and Annie's big day.

I got back to the Dinning hall to find Peeta frantically searching the place, Johanna tailing behind him.

"Don't worry, she can look after herself. She's a big girl now you know."

"You know where she went!" exclaimed Peeta, rounding on Johanna. "I should have realiZed before! You were just distracting me, weren't you! Tell me where she is or I'll-"

"Peeta, calm down, I'm right here," I said, taking his hand. "No need to murder Johanna over it."

Peeta looked down sheepishly, and Johanna raised her eyebrows, silently asking how it went. I shook my head, and Johanna's eyes widened.

"Do you need to leave," she whispered. "I can cover for you if you want."

I was shocked. Where had this compassionate Johanna come from? I thought back to the Quell, just after the Jabberjays had attacked Finnick and I. She'd said that there was no-one left she cared about. Maybe she understood the way I felt.

"No," I said, telling her what I ad told myself a few minuted ago. "This is Finnick and Annie's day. I don't want to ruin for them." She nodded, and then walked away in the direction of Peeta's magnificent cake.

"What was that about?" I looked up to see Peeta staring at me intently. I sighed.

"Can I tell you later? As I told Johanna, I don't want to ruin this." He nodded, then took my hand and pulled me back onto the dance floor. I smiled – Peeta really did know what was good for me. Right now, I needed to get everything off my mind.

The doctor had said that Gale was improving, but to me he just seemed worse. Maybe the Capitol had made him hate me as well as Peeta.

I shook my head, and forced those thoughts away, enjoying the feel of Peeta's arms around me. I was safe there.

As Peeta spun us around, I felt the happiness I could feel before come back. This was a wedding, and I was with Peeta. And I was going to enjoy myself, and forget what Gale had said.

For now, at least.

* * *

**And sorry for the lack of wedding vows: I tried, but anything I came up with was trash, and my sister's stolen my book again. I thought this ruined it less :)**


	19. Training

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

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**Chapter 19**

Training

"So… What are you saying?" Asked Bryce, a refugee from District Ten. Coin looked at him incredulously. So did I.

Coin had just spend the past hour and a half explaining about how the war was getting worse, and that just going to a fight every so often was not enough. Also, the we were going to have to step up our game; not only do we need more propos, but better propos. The stuff we had done so far was superb, but the people were starting to notice that I only went no the smaller fights, and if it was a big fight, I was normally only there by accident; like what happened in District Eight. They needed me to do more to boost them up a bit. Clearly what Coin was getting at was that she wanted us to go out into bigger, more dangerous battles, and for that, she needed us to be soldiers.

At the present time, we were just kids that had made it through the games and got lucky on the battle field a few times. We had no training and no qualifications. Sure, we'd had that crash course before we went to Two, but that wasn't enough. We had to become real soldiers.

Coin had all but spelled this out to us, but Bryce hadn't seemed to be able to catch on.

"We're going to have to train, Bryce," I said, rolling my eyes.

"You're going to have to… But why? You never had to before." I refrained myself from going over and whacking my head against the wall, and settled instead for sighing loudly.

"We need to be seen doing more than just talking to people in hospitals," said Peeta, coming to my rescue.

"Yes, I know, I got that bit," said Bryce, looking at Peeta as if he were a young, naive child. "But you have done more than just visit hospitals, you know. You did all that stuff in District Two, or have you forgotten? Is it just too much for you to take?" I frowned as he smirked at the two of us.

"Yes, they did," said Coin, growing impatient. "However, that was one time. District Eight was an accident – yes, they did fight bravely, but still an accident – everyone knows that. And that leaves us with the issue that the two people that are supposed to be motivating the rest of the population have left the safety of District Thirteen to enter a battle a grand total of _once_. Not very inspirational, is it?"

"I don't understand what that has to do with-"

"They are going to need to enter more battles and face more danger. It is a risk, yes," she said as Bryce opened his mouth, "but one we'll have to take. This may well be the only way we can motivate the people, and we al know the only thing we have over the Capitol is out good intentions and numbers, and only then if _everybody_ gets involved. To be able to face these larger dangers, they are going to need training."

"Right. And I am here because..?"

"Because you are a part of the team!" snarled Coin, finally losing her patience. "I don't know _why_ I picked you, and if you don't stop complaining, you'll be out before you can say '_unfair_'. Understand?"

Bryce nodded stiffly, and Coin turned back to the rest of us.

"So, are you ready for this?" We all nodded. What choice did we have? "Good. You'll all report to the training ground in twenty minutes for your first session." With that, Coin walked out of the door, seeming as if she couldn't get out fast enough.

"Well, that was interesting," Said Finnick, lounging against the wall next to me. I grimaced. That Bryce could really be a pain. I couldn't believe Coin had dumped him in with us.

The man in question snorted, and charged out of the room. When he was about ten meters down the hall, he stopped and turned back.

"Well, hurry up. We have to get there on time, you know, or Coin might throw us out of the mission."

"No," said Johanna. "_You_ have to get there on time or she might throw _you_ out of the mission. _You_ are only here because we need numbers. We are here because we are actually important."

"You think that," sneered Bryce, "But you don't know for sure. I was in the main fight in Two, and-"

"And you ran and hid, then emerged pretending to have killed a peace keeper," growled Peeta. "Yeah, we've heard all about your little escapade." I frowned. I had never heard of this guy before today, but it seemed the others had. What had he done? Peeta didn't usually get so angry so easily.

"At least I didn't get shot," he said in a superior voice. "Unlike your little girlfriend here. Oh, I forgot. You're only faking, aren't you?"

"What do you know," I growled. "You know nothing of us."

"Actually, I'd say the whole country knows about you two. You've only been the most popular celebrities in Panem for the last year and a bit. And you may have fooled the Capitol with your lovey-dovey act, but not the rest of us."

"Watch it," snarled Peeta. "We know all about you, so you'd best be careful."

He grabbed my arm and started to drag me to the training area, Johanna, Finnick and the rest of the group trailing behind. They were almost the same group that had gone to Eight, except Rory wasn't present; Johanna and Bryce had taken his place.

"What was that about?" I asked. "Who is he?"

"Tyler Johnson's older brother," said Johanna.

"Who?"

"Tyler was a tribute in your first games," answered Finnick. "It makes sense that you don't know his name. I don't know the names of the majority of the kids that died in my Games either."

Oh.

"He was the one with… the one that limped."

"Yeah."

"So he hates us for surviving?"

"Not really," said Peeta. "He must have known that his brother wouldn't make it with that leg. And it's not like he was killed by a tribute, so he can't blame us… he died of burns after that fire. He lay there for days…"

"So did you," I whispered. Peeta sighed, and Finnick brought us back to topic.

"He hates the Capitol, Katniss. He'll do anything to stop them. That's why Coin didn't punish him too severely after Two. But he's not very smart, rather impulsive, quick tempered and extremely arrogant… well, you saw him. But he's with us because he was family of a tribute, and because he is so well driven, we know he won't betray us. We don't have to like it, but we'll have to live with it."

I nodded, and we all sped up a bit, or we really would be late.

"Ah, you're all here already. Good." I grinned as Boggs walked in, happy that he was our commander. I liked Boggs; he'd been good on all our other missions. "Now, today I'll just be finding out what you can do. We have different stations set up-" I glanced around to see the large room was set up much like the training center back at the Capitol, "-and I want you to all have a go at everything. Today you will practice, tomorrow I will see how well you do. After that, we will train everyday until your testing. And, once you have passed your test, you will be ready to go; but you will train every day until the actual mission. Understand?" All of us nodded, expect for Bryce.

"Don't we get a day off or something?"

A terrifying expression crawled across Boggs' face.

"Did you expect this to be a picnic? Did you expect to be home by next weekend? Did you think it would be easy? Because it won't be, and you need to be ready for anything. We have to fit months of training into weeks, so that means hard work. If you don't want to join the mission, then that is fine. Leave now."

Bryce grumbled and looked at the floor, but did not say anything else.

"Right then. Grab a partner, get to a station and get going!"

I immediately took Peeta's hand and tried to drag him over to the archery station. But Boggs stopped me.

"Oh, I don't think so, Katniss. We all know you can shoot an arrow, but let's see how you can shoot a bullet." I groaned. I had practiced with guns before we had been sent to Two, and I didn't like them. I mean, sure, they were quicker and more efficient than bows, but they were so loud, and made such as mess! What if you needed to be discreet? But I admitted that I needed the practice, and we went to the gun station, leaving archery free for Finnick and Johanna.

Once Boggs was satisfied that I did indeed know how to aim and fire a gun, we went to the grenades. Then the gas bombs. Then the gas masks. Then disguises, which I didn't particularly want to do, but Peeta assured me was important. The more we worked, the more I realized how unlike the training center this was. The only thing that was the same was archery, and then the closest was how to survive if you got separated from the group.

Peeta and I were learning how to use a complicated communicating device when a doctor walked in and conversed with Boggs. Then he walked towards us. As he approached, I recognized him as the doctor in charge of Gale. I wondered what was going on.

"Hello, Katniss," he said, nodding at me. Then he turned to Peeta. "Would you come with us, please?" We both stood up, but he shook his head. "No, just Peeta."

Peeta and I frowned. We didn't like to be separated. But he nodded, kissed me on the cheek, squeezed my hand and followed the doctor out of the door.

I shook my head. It probably wasn't important; they probably just wanted to check his leg or something. That doctor couldn't be only concentrating on Gale; there were to many patients and too little hands for that. I pushed everything out of my mind, put the communicator down and went to join Finnick and Johanna, who were running laps of the room.

~~0~~

"So, what did the doctor want earlier?" I asked at dinner. "Was it about your leg?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, my leg," muttered Peeta, poking his food.

"What's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing."

"Come on, Peeta, I know you well enough to know when something's wrong."

He sighed, then looked up from his meal.

"It's just the… morphling they gave me while they poked at my leg. It's nothing."

I frowned. Morphling didn't make people act grouchy. Normally more happy. I shrugged it off. Maybe he reacted differently.

"What did they do it?"

"Not much really. They wanted to see what the Capitol had done to it. I think they want to see it again tomorrow."

"There's nothing wrong with it though, is there?" I asked, panic setting in.

"Oh no, they're just wondering if they could replicate it. So many people lose limbs in battle…" I nodded, my panic subsiding. It made sense.

"It's going to be odd, isn't it?" I asked.

"Odd how?"

"Well, before this, we'd had most of our time to ourselves… I know we had those schedules, and meetings, and before we went to Two there was a bit of training, but this is going to be full on, with no rest at all."

"It's what we have to do."

"I know… It's just, I think we'll need a bit of rest. I know that when it needs to, the human body can go on for a long time, such as in the Games. The games were a couple of weeks with no rest at all, save for the few days we spent in the cave. But even then, we were always on guard, never truly resting… When it's under pressure, the body can cope. But this is going to be training, with no threat, nothing to keep our focus other than our determination. But if it's what we have to do to bring down the Capitol, then I'll do it."

Peeta grinned.

"That's my girl. Now, as you pointed out, we have a rather tough time ahead of us. So I think I'll be heading of to bed, to rest while I can. Coming?"

"I think I'll regret it in the morning if I don't."

~~0~~

The next day found us awake, dressed, and yawning in the middle of the training area at five thirty. I was so glad Peeta had suggested an early night the night before.

Boggs was running through what we were to do. It was the same as yesterday, except today he would be watching us and writing down what we knew, and what we needed to work on. We were once again to work in pairs, but this time I was with Johanna, and Peeta with Finnick. Boggs wanted us all to be friendly with different people, so we knew we could all work together if the need aroused.

I didn't mind at all; Johanna and I had become closer since she had arrived in Thirteen. We worked through the stations, Boggs nodding at us every so often. We could do almost everything, though I was still stumped on the communicator, and Johanna was having a few issues with archery.

After a while, Boggs led us up to the surface. We were a little nervous; hardly anyone went to the surface here.

When we got outside, Boggs told us that there was an obstacle course set up. We would go through a series of obstacle which would prove our fitness and endurance levels.

Johanna and I were to go last. Peeta had a few difficulties due to his leg, but made it through alright. Finnick struggled a bit when asked to fit his huge body through a pipe, but squeezed himself through. When it was my turn, I ran through easily, earning myself a pat on the back from Boggs and a smile from Peeta, who was watching from the sidelines. Unfortunately, when it was her turn, Johanna had a more than couple of difficulties.

The first obstacle were a series of bars that came up to about my waist; you had to jump one, then duck under the next, then jump, and so on. She managed this, but seemed to be panting harder and harder with each duck, and was clearing the bars by less and less on her jumps. When she reached the tunnel – a small concrete pipe about 50cm in diameter – she took longer than I thought she would crawling through, and came out looking a little pale, breathing heavily, her eyes wide. However, when she got to the wall, she scrambled up and over easily, and then jumped across and along logs as if it were second nature. I realized it probably was for her, being from the timber district. But it surprised me she could do it so easily after struggling with the pipe.

She struggled to climb up the ropes, over the wires and across the chains, but she managed never the less. I figured it must have been the fact that she'd been locked up in a cell for so long that had drained her energy. I remembered she had seemed more out of breath than normal for her when she had been running laps the previous day. But as she came to the pool of water, it became apparent that it wasn't just a lack of exercise that had her stumbling.

The idea of the exercise was to walk across the long ladder placed over the pool. Most of us had stepped from rung to rung easily, the only one of us experiencing any difficulty being Peeta because of his leg, but he still got across without falling. But Johanna just stood there. Staring at the water, shaking. I wondered what was wrong; she hadn't minded the water at all during the Quell. I wanted to call out to her, but Boggs motioned for me to keep quiet. After about a minute, a look of determination crossed Johanna's face. She whispered something that sounded like:

"_I will _not_ let you beat me_."

Slowly, very slowly, she got down on her hands and knees, and began crawling across the ladder. Johanna didn't look down, but kept her face pointing at the land on the other side.

When she reached the other side, she let out a huge sigh and collapsed on the ground. But after a couple of seconds, she heaved herself up and climbed over the platform in front of her.

After that, it seemed like nothing could stop her. She ran through the course, the look of determination never leaving her face. Until, that is, she reached the very last obstacle.

It was a pit of mud with a net over the top. What you had to do was crawl under the net and through the mud. Sure, you got a bit dirty, but it was pretty easy.

But the moment Johanna saw the mud, she froze. Then she began to shake violently, and curled up on the floor in a foetal position, clutching her head and rocking back and forth. She didn't seem to be able to fix herself this time.

Boggs ran across to her, calling a doctor with his communicator at the same time. He tried to get Johanna to respond, but when she didn't, he called us over.

Peeta, Finnick and I tried to talk to her, but all we got were moans. Eventually, the doctor came, and gave her a shot of what looked like morphling. She calmed down a little and her eyes glazed over. The doctor wrapped an arm around her and tried to pull her up, but couldn't lift her himself. He asked Peeta to help him - giving Peeta a knowing look – and then the three of them left. I frowned as I realized that it was the same doctor who had talked to Peeta the day before; Gales doctor.

Well, it would make sense if he were treating all the Victors. Even if Gale wasn't a Victor, he was almost family to me. At least, he to used to be.

As Johanna had been the last to attempt the course, we all went back underground and had a lunch break. Peeta was still not back after lunch, and neither was Johanna, so I paired with Finnick for the rest of the day.

Later, when I talked to Peeta, he just said he had been asked to stay with Johanna, but he couldn't quite look me in the eye as he said it. He easily told me what had been wrong though; apparently the Capitol had used water and a substance that looked like mud when they were torturing her.

"And they kept her in a tiny cell, alone in the dark for a whole week while Gale was being hijacked" he said, shuddering. I couldn't begin to imagine how terrifying that would have been. All alone with no light, no noise, no company, and no space. I think I would have gone mad. No wonder she was shaking when she came out of that tunnel, even if she could see the light at the end.

The next few days followed just as Boggs said they would. We were given lessons at each of the stations, put through drills of different situations, and forced to run multiple laps. Every day we would each complete the obstacle course and try to beat our previous time. When Johanna returned two days after the incident, she stayed clear of the course. Then, over the next few days, she did a bit at a time, trying to overcome her fear. After about a week, she could stand up to her ankles in the mud, but she still couldn't lie in it.

Every day, a doctor would take Peeta away for about half an hour. He didn't tell me what was going on, other than the fact they were researching his leg. When I asked why I couldn't go with him, he faltered, but told me I needed the rest. Something was going on, I just wasn't sure what.

~~0~~

I found out what was going on with Peeta about a week and a half after we'd started training. We were all watching Boggs give a detailed demonstration of how to make a bomb out a some string, a tin can and a heap of petrol when the doors slammed open and a person came in.

He seemed nervous, and was shaking with rage, but looked determined as he walked towards us. I froze as I recognized him.

Gale Hawthorne was coming to join our training group.


	20. Test

**I am sorry about the gaps of time between chapters... I try to update every Thursday after school. It'll be the end of term in less then two weeks though, so I'll hopefully up the pace during the holidays!**

**And thanks to all you guys that have been reviewing! We're past 50! Yay!  
**

**Disclaimer: And I didn't own then, I don't now, and I won't later.**

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**Chapter 20**

Test

"What is the meaning of this?" thundered Boggs as he strode towards Gale. The rest of us instinctively moved in front of Peeta.

"I'm joining your group," said Gale, barely controlling his voice.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"On who's authority?"

"Mine." Everybody turned to see Coin striding towards us.

"President," said Boggs in a forced tone. "You really can't risk him-"

"Oh can't I?" she asked. "We have taken the necessary precautions. You knew of this, and you never complained."

"I, well, I expected it to take an awful lot longer than a week! He can't be fully healed yet! He just can't!"

"Yes, he can. Peeta, prove it," commanded Coin. I heard Peeta sigh behind me, and start to walk around the group of us clustered in front of him.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, grabbing his arm. "Are you crazy? Do you have a death sentence."

"No," said Peeta. "But I don't have a choice. Don't worry, it _should_ be okay…" The uncertainty in his voice almost sent me into full-scale panic mode, but he was right. He didn't have a choice.

Peeta pulled out of my grip, and moved so that Gale could see him. The moment he did, Gale stiffened, and what could only be described as a snarl rippled through his chest. I felt a sudden urge to run, but held my ground, unwilling to let anyone think I was weak.

Suddenly, Gale's face relaxed slightly, and he closed his eyes, breathing loudly. He seemed to be muttering under his breath. What ever he was doing, after a few moments, he had managed to completely calm himself.

I stared at him, my mouth gaping open.

What?

"Good enough?" barked Coin, looking behind her at the doctor I hadn't noticed before.

"I guess…" he said with uncertainty. "I haven't seen how he will react if Peeta picks up a weapon near Katniss though, we haven't tested this enough. Maybe if he were to come back to the hospital and then-"

"No. we don't have time. He has to train. You may stay here to observe him, but that is all. Do not interrupt unless he is about to kill, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Wonderful. Boggs, Gale is to join in for _all_ of the activities, and is not to be restrained. You will report to me at the end of every day."

Before Boggs could protest, Coin had swept out of the room, leaving the doctor and Gale with us.

"Well," said Boggs, fuming. "Right then. Hawthorne, you come over here-" he gestured to the opposite side of the group to where Peeta and I were standing, "-and then we can get back to it."

After Gale had moved, Boggs continued on with his demonstration. I turned to to Peeta, silently asking for an explanation, but he just mouthed '_later_'. I huffed in exasperation.

"Oh, Peeta," whined Bryce, quiet so only Peeta and I could hear. "You had better watch your back now, or the mad little boy from Twelve might get you."

"Watch it," I growled, spinning on the spot to face him.

"Let it go, Katniss," whispered Peeta.

"Alright over there?" called Boggs, annoyed at the interruption.

"All fine," said Peeta, and spun me around again before I could do anything stupid. "Ignore him," he hissed at me.

The day's training was fairly uneventful after that, with Gale staying on the opposite side of the group to Peeta at all times. When we were dismissed, he was the first to leave the room. It seemed like he really was trying his hardest to stay away from Peeta.

The moment we got back to our room after dinner, I turned on Peeta and demanded to know what had happened. He sighed and sat on his bed, motioning for me to sit next to him.

"You know how the doctors kept asking me to go with them to the hospital," he said, and I nodded. "It wasn't my leg they wanted to research." Peeta paused and watched me for a second, trying to gauge my reaction.

I took a deep breath.

"Go on."

"Well… they would put me in Gales room and try to see how he would react… to try and make him get used to my presence without attempting to murder me. When he was able to be in the same room as me, they tried to see how he would react if I had a weapon… He wasn't ready for this, though. They were taking way to much of a risk today. We had no idea what he would do if you were in the room as well, but Coin was so sure that he'd be fine…"

"Wait," I said, feeling my stomach grow heavier by the second. "You lied to me? You told me you were going to get your leg checked out… do you have any idea how big this is? I thought we agreed to be honest to each other?"

"I'm sorry Katniss," he said, his eyes wide and begging for forgiveness, "I knew how much it would mean to you. But he had hurt you so much and you hated talking about him, so I didn't want to bring it up, or raise your hopes. I didn't want you to worry either. _And_, Coin ordered me not to tell anyone."

"Why would she do that? What's so special about Gale?"

"Remember when we were thinking about why the Capitol would Hijack Gale? How they might have done it to kill me to get to you?" I nodded. "Well, Coin doesn't want the news of his recovering getting back to the Capitol."

"Wait, so he's getting better then?" I asked. Before Peeta could respond, however, I realized the importance of the other thing he'd said. "Hang on a sec. What do you mean Coin doesn't want it reaching the Capitol? Does she think there is a spy?"

"We don't know how much the Capitol knows, but as they haven't been able to pinpoint most of our raids and such, Coin does not think there is a spy – at least not one in an important position. She is, however, sure that people are somehow communication with the districts; whether it be soldiers gossiping to people in the districts or family members sending messages – via the rebel system of course – but some of the more trivial stuff is getting out. Coin doesn't think the Capitol could use it, but the less people that know the better."

"But why couldn't she tell me? Person to person, no messages or anything. I was going to find out anyway, right?"

"Not if it didn't work," said Peeta. "As I said, I didn't want to get your hopes up. But it doesn't seem to have worked how I hoped it would, anyway. Gale still isn't himself. I can't say I ever knew him very well, but I know he wasn't like this. The only thing that has changed is that he has better control over his rages. But we hadn't tested it with you there with me! He wasn't ready!"

I sighed as I saw the fury in his eyes, knowing that, even if he did lie to me, he meant well. Peeta always means well.

"Well, he did seem to be okay…" I said.

"Yes, but we didn't _know_! Anything could happen! And we haven't tested him with a weapon either."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Yeah," sighed Peeta. "I guess that's all we can do."

~~0~~

The next day, we got to the training centre to find Boggs in a heated argument with Coin. The moment they saw us, they immediately went quiet, before telling us to leave the room. We waited outside the door for about half an hour – by which time the others had arrived.

"What do you think they were arguing about?" asked Finnick after we tol him what we'd seen.

"No idea," I said, "But it must have been bad – Boggs doesn't usually argue with Coin, does he?"

"He did yesterday," said Peeta, thinking, "when Gale came."

We all automatically looked over to where Gale was leaning against the wall, staring at the ceiling.

"Not much though."

"No Katniss, I think he's right. That is the only time we've seen him show any sign of not agreeing with her."

Before I could answer, the door finally opened.

"Sorry about that," said Boggs, looking thoroughly worn out, "we aren't going to be in here today. If you'll follow me please."

Boggs lead us back up to the obstacle course, then told us to gather around.

"Now, today you will be doing your exam, as the President has decided we shall leave for our first mission tomorrow." Some muttering sprang up here – Peeta, Finnick, Johanna and I included as we wondered if that was what they were arguing about - but Boggs motioned everyone to be quiet again. "If you fail, you will not go on the mission. If you are a Victor and you fail-" here Boggs looked over to the four of us, "-You will still go, but you will not be able to participate in battle, only to be filmed on the sidelines. So you four, _please_ try to pass."

"Righto, boss," said Finnick with a salute.

"Now, there are four sections to the exam. The first is an obstacle course, the second a written tactics exam, the third weapons proficiency test, and the fourth a simulated battle situation. All tests will be done individually. You will go in Alphabetical order. You will not watch each other's tests. That is all."

I groaned as I realised I would be going first. Brilliant.

The obstacle course was as simple as the first time I'd tried it, and everyone, even Johanna, got through without difficulties. I had kind of hoped Gale wouldn't be able to do it, as he had lost a lot of strength in the Capitol, but the doctors seemed to have been training him in his room as well as getting him used to Peeta. And years of hunting for food don't just desert you.

The written test was a breeze; I barely had to even think. However, when we got to the weapons proficiency test, I was more than a little nervous; what would Gale do? He hadn't with weapons around us yet! But then I remembered what Boggs had said before the obstacle course; _you will not watch each other's tests._ I grinned. Thank goodness Boggs was on the ball.

For the combat simulation we were sent to a place called the Block; a large room with several doors that would lead us to our test. Boggs told us that inside the room was modelled to be like a Capitol street, and that we would have to get to a rendezvous point in the back. The situation could be anything from a full scale battle to avoiding snipers, and would test our weaknesses.

I was glad I wouldn't have to wait as I walked up to my door; it meant I wouldn't be sitting around getting nervous.

Peeta wished me luck as I went through the door, and I smiled at him, not trusting my voice. When I entered the room it was pitch black, but the moment the door closed behind me I could see.

I took a quick glance around to see several houses lining a street as my arena instincts began to kick in. The moment they did, I realised something was wrong.

I dived to the side as a ball full of paint exploded on the door, right behind the spot I had been in two seconds ago. I smiled as I realised they were using paint balls to determine if we'd been hit.

Quickly rolled behind a wall, then looked up to get a better view of the area. In the ten or so seconds it had taken me to hide behind the wall, a heap of peace keepers had appeared on each roof. I grinned as I realised that they would not be able to see me if I stayed under the parts of the roof that stuck out over the footpaths, and stayed close to the walls. I quickly ran to the nearest building, pressed my back against the wall and began sliding down the street, thinking that this was rather simple.

I was bout half way there and in sight of the rendezvous point when things began to heat up. A group of peacekeepers came down the street, looking like they were dragging something along. I ducked into the house closest to me, and immediately checked it for an escape point – I found a door in the back – before turning back to the front. The Peacekeepers had stopped right outside of my house, and were scanning the area, and one of them had started to speak.

"Come out!" he yelled, and, had it been a less serious situation, I might have rolled my eyes. Honestly, as if I was going to come out! I started edging back to wards my door. "We know you're here somewhere! Come out now and we'll free you little boyfriend!" I frowned, and moved back to the window. What did they mean?

I glanced out quickly so that they wouldn't see me, but had to look again to confirm what I'd seen.

The Peacekeepers were standing in a circle around a figure on the ground, one of them pointing his gun at him.

The person was Peeta.

I felt the urge to go out there, no matter the consequences on my part, to set him free. But my survival instinct were warring with my urge to protect Peeta, telling me to leave him, run away and never go back. In all of my confusion, I forgot that this was a test, and that he couldn't get hurt; to me, this was real. Peeta was to get captured, and possibly get taken to be tortured like Gale was. Suddenly a resolve formed in my mind. I couldn't let Peeta experience what had happened to Gale.

Just as I was about to step out of the house, Boggs' voice sounded through my communicator.

"Katniss, get out of there. Leave Peeta and get out of there!"

What? Leave Peeta? No way. I did that in our first Games, and he was nearly killed by a pack of giant wolves.

I went to step out again when I spotted Bryce, lurking in a doorway like I was; only he didn't have a peacekeeper looking at him. He could save Peeta.

I groaned. Brilliant. Our only chance of survival rested in Bryce Johnson. There was no way I wanted him to risk our chances.

"Katniss, leave."

One of the peacekeepers spotted movement, and shot at the house two left of the house opposite mine. When I saw the red paint splatter on the wall, I remembered where I was, and what Boggs had said.

This was a simulation. A simulation designed to test our weaknesses. And I knew what, from a military point of view, my biggest weakness was. From when I ran for that back pack in my first Games to when I chased after Rory in district Eight, there is one main thing that stands out.

I cannot follow orders.

I immediately turn around and run for the door in the back of the room before sliding along a back street and coming out into a square. I can once again see my destination, but there is a problem. It is across the other side of the square, and there are peacekeepers in the middle.

I quickly jumped into another house as I realized that from their position, the peacekeepers would be able to see every inch of the square. I couldn't go through or around it. I groaned, then quickly ducked into another room as the door opened. Luckily, it wasn't a peacekeeper. It was Peeta, Bryce and Finnick, who seemed to have been the person the peacekeepers had fired at earlier.

I smiled and announced my presence before walking over to them – and good thing too, as Bryce looked pretty jumpy.

"So," said Finnick, "How are we going to get out of this mess?"

"No idea," muttered Bryce.

"Well, lets watch this guy," said Peeta, gesturing to the window.

As we watched, one of the other soldiers in our group jumped out of a small alley and started firing at the peacekeepers. He brought a couple down, but didn't make it to the rendezvous before he received a blob of paint on his chest, causing his gun to shut down and his communicator to tell him he'd failed. The Peacekeepers immediately moved towards that alley to check for more people.

"Quick!" I said. "Lets go now!"

"Don't you think we should talk about it? Think it over a little more?" Asked Peeta.

"No, we'll miss our chance! Lets go!" I exclaimed. He nodded along with Finnick, and the three of us moved towards the door. Bryce, however, stayed put.

"I'm staying," he said.

"Leave him," said Boggs through the communicator. The three of us turned without a second thought and sprinted across the square. We were about half way across when one of the peacekeepers noticed us, but we made it to the point, and a man congratulated us.

"Nice job," he said. "Just wait here now, and Boggs will be down in a sec."

Bryce was the next to arrive with one of the other soldiers in our team that I didn't know, but I thought his name was Mitchell. Apparently, Boggs had told Bryce to stay behind to help Mitchell, who had a 'wound' in his leg and couldn't walk. The next were Gale and Johanna – Johanna looking rather frustrated, and Gale with barely controlled rage on his face. When they arrived, he immediately sat in a corner facing the wall.

I figured they had been forced to work as a team to get out of there.

When everyone was back, Boggs came out of the control room and congratulated us. All of us except that one guy had passed. I sighed in annoyance. Was it too much to ask for Bryce and Gale to have failed as well?

No, Katniss, don't think like that. It's mean.

Our testing had taken up the whole day, so Boggs let us go, telling us to be in Command the next morning at six.

It's a tribute to how hard we had been working the past couple of weeks that we found the thought of getting to report in at six exciting. That was a whole extra half an hour sleep!

Just like the day before, Gale left as soon as we had been dismissed. I sighed. He might be getting better, but he still wasn't the Gale I used to know.

~~0~~

"As I am sure your Commander told you yesterday, you will be beginning your first mission this evening," said Coin. We all looked up with excitement, and Finnick even seemed to stop mid-yawn. We were all very excited to be getting back into some real action rather than just training. "You will be going to the outskirts of the Capitol to film some propos."

I sighed. Of course we would be just filming propos, even if we were going to the Capitol.

Plutarch moved forward, a large mechanical device resting in his hands.

"This is a map of the Capitol," he said. We all stared at him in confusion until he hit a button and a hologram erupted from the device. It was, as he had said, a map of the capitol. As we watched, he twiddled a knob and zoomed in on a street until small lights were visible. "Each of these lights," he explained, "represents a device called a pod. Pods are traps that can be triggered in different ways, and each with a different – yet very deadly – result. Your job is to destroy the pods marked with a green light in this area. They are the least dangerous pods. You will be filmed while you do this. When your mission is complete, you will return to District Thirteen for further instructions. Understand?"

We all nodded somewhat grudgingly. Shooting Pods sounded interesting, but if we were only shooting the least dangerous ones… well… Something made me think that we weren't exactly doing such an important job.

The rest of the day flew by quickly in a blur of preparations and last minute training – which Gale was not present for – and before I knew it, we were in the hovercraft and heading for the Capitol.

The area we were headed for had been evacuated as rebel raids had proved a danger to the residents. We landed quite a way off and had to walk in to where the streets were, but Boggs decided that we would do that tomorrow. Instead, we set up a camp in a cave in the nearby mountain.

I groaned when I heard this plan. For the entire hovercraft ride and the short walk I had managed to avoid Gale. However, in the cave, that would be very hard.

In an attempt to make us all feel safer with Gale around, Boggs asked his second in command, a woman called Jackson, to set up a round the clock two man guard on him. When we had laid out our sleeping bags, Peeta and I went over to Jackson to find out when we were on duty.

"I didn't put you two on the roster," said Jackson. "I don't think that, should it come to it, either of you would be able to shoot him."

This comment, just one to many, pushed me over the edge. I spoke up so that my voice rang out through the cave, and let out the emotions I had pent up over the last couple of weeks since Gale returned.

"It wouldn't be shooting Gale. He's not Gale, just like how those wolves in our Games weren't Glimmer and Rue. He's the same. He's just one of the Capitol's evil creations. It would be like shooting a mutt."

"Katniss…" Peeta laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, that sort of comment isn't helping your case either," said Jackson.

"Put them on the rotation," said Boggs from behind me. "Separately, mind."

Jackson frowned, but nodded.

"Katniss, your on at midnight 'till four, with me. Peeta; eight 'till midnight, with Bryce." Peeta groaned next to me and I felt a stab of sympathy for him. Of all the people on the mission, he got Bryce.

While we were eating that night, the soldiers that didn't know me so well were shooting nervous glances at me, and refused to meet my eye. I frowned, sure that not so long ago, Gale was the one that everyone had been afraid of.

The moment I had finished, I walked out of the cave, sat down on a rock and looked out over the Capitol. It was just as beautiful as I remembered it being the first time I saw it – maybe more so, as it was lit up in the darkness – yet it seemed more sinister. Maybe it was because I had a better knowledge of what went on inside.

"Are you alright?"

I glanced over to see Peeta looking down at me worriedly. I nodded once then looked back to the city.

"No, you're not," he sighed. I continued to ignore him. "You know, they think you were trying to provoke him or something."

"What?"

"They kept looking at you because after what you said earlier, they're afraid you might do something to set Gale off."

"What I said was true though," I said, trying to defend myself. "He's not Gale, he's a mutt."

"Yes, you're right, he isn't Gale," said Peeta, and I felt a smile appear on my face. However, it disappeared at his next words. "But, he could be."

"What does that even mean? It doesn't make any sense."

"He isn't your Gale at the moment, Katniss, and I don't think he ever will be. But he's getting better – the fact that he was in the same room as me and I'm here talking to you is testimony to that – but he can't if you are continuously putting him down and telling him that he's no better than a mutt!"

"But he is a mutt!" I exclaimed. "He's something the Capitol created! Isn't that the definition of a mutt?"

"Is Johanna a mutt?" asked Peeta. I stared at him.

"What?"

"Is Johanna a mutt?"

"No, of course not."

"Is she the same person that we met before the Quell?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

I thought back to how Johanna was during the Quell; outspoken, confident and difficult. Now, she was just a shell of her former self; still fairly outspoken, but not nearly as confident, and no longer as stubborn.

I sighed.

"No."

"Then why don't you think she's a mutt? The Capitol changed her, just as they changed Gale. Not as drastically, but there's still a change? So why isn't she a mutt?"

Before I could respond, Peeta continued.

"Am I a mutt, Katniss? The Capitol has changed me. I am most definitely not the same boy that was reaped a year and a half ago. And what about you? You've changed. Or Prim? Prim wasn't that little, innocent twelve year old when she died. She had changed. Was Prim a mutt?"

"No!" I was close to yelling now.

"So what about Gale?" asked Peeta.

"Fine," I muttered. "He's not a mutt. But he has been changed."

"And you can change him back. Think, what would he have done? If you were the one who had been hijacked, what would have happened?"

"You would have helped me," I whispered. "He would have let you do it." Peeta shook his head.

"If I wasn't there. If Gale was in your position right now, and you in his, what would he have done?"

I sighed. Gale would have tried to get me back. I know he would have.

I groaned as I thought about Prim, and how she would have reacted to the way I've been behaving. She would have been appalled. I know that Prim would have done everything in her power to help Gale. She would have been so disappointed in me…

I felt my breath catch in my throat and put my head in my hands. Peeta sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around me.

"There now,"he said, his tone much softer than it had been before. "I didn't mean to make you upset, I just-"

"No Peeta, thank you," I said. "That was just what I needed. I'll try and be better from now on."

"Good." He said. "It'll make you feel better."

"I hope so." I took my head out of my hands and leaned on his shoulder, looking back out at the Capitol. We sat there for a while until we heard that annoying voice behind us.

"Oh, look at the two little love-birds."

"What do you want, Bryce," groaned Peeta, pulling me closer against him.

"It's time for our shift," he droned. "Boggs has been getting worried. Thought you'd been captured or something. Don't know why he cares, to be honest. Oh, and big day tomorrow and all that, wouldn't want our ickle Mockingjay and her nest mate t be tired in the morning."

"Shut up," I moaned.

"Now, now, little birdie, that's impolite."

Peeta sighed and stood up, pulling me with him.

"Alright, alright, we're coming."

"Good. We don't want to keep Mr. Hawthorne waiting now do we?" he sent a pointed look at me. With much effort, I ignored his jab and walked past him into the cave.

"There you are!" called Boggs. "Don't go out again without permission, understand?"

"Yes," I muttered.

Peeta followed Bryce to the back of the room where Gale had already fallen asleep. I looked down at my sleeping bag and sighed. I wasn't going to be able to sleep by myself. Picking it up, I went over and surprised Peeta by curling up next to where he was sitting, pressing my back against his leg. He didn't say anything though, just smiled and, ignoring Bryce's jabs, started playing with my hair.

I was surprised when I felt my own smile on my face as I remembered another time, quite a while ago, when I fell asleep in a cave, with Peeta at my side, and danger at my door.

All we were missing was the storm.

* * *

**Alright, I don't think that's a cliffhanger... I didn't mean to do one last time, it was an accident, I swear. And don't worry about Gale's lack of anger or whatever, it'll come back in the next chapter. Promise. **


	21. Numbers

**Alright, so, Chapter 21! By the way, only three more days of school for this term (Friday, Monday, Tuesday) and then I'm free! So, as I said before, hopefully I'll get more chapters up then. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, except for maybe Bryce... But I'm not too proud of owning him, if you get what I mean...**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

Numbers

"Now then, rules," said Boggs, pacing in front of us. We were all standing in a group at the mouth of the cave, ready to go and shoot some 'oh so extreme' propos, and Boggs was giving us a pep talk. I didn't see the point, really, as Plutarch had already explained the basics to us. "Number one. You may only shoot the pods I tell you to, those that marked on the map in green."

"Well, we already know that," muttered Bryce. The rest of us ignored him.

"Number two. You must stick with your assigned buddy at all times, unless I say otherwise. I have paired each of you with the person I think you will work best with, so don't try changing them."

"You'd think we were still in primary school or something," said Bryce, this time a little louder. The rest of us ignored him.

"Number three. You will answer to roll call whenever I say. You each know your number; if I yell out one, Soldier Jackson will yell two, Soldier Everdeen will yell three, and so on."

"And how come Little Miss Birdie gets to be a higher number than the rest of us? Don't you think we outrank her?" He was speaking in normal tones now. We still ignored him, but a couple of hands clenched into fists.

"If you miss your number, you will be considered absent, and we will send a search party. If you are not found within a half hour, you are on your own. If you fail to call your number without good reason, you will suffer the consequences, which I will decide then."

"As I said before, it's like bloody primary school." I, along with everybody else, fought the desire to turn around and break that pointy nose of his.

"Number four," continued Boggs.

"Five." Boggs finally turned to look at Bryce, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, sorry," smirked Bryce, "I thought we were numbering off."

"First warning, Soldier Johnson. Next warning and you'll be sitting out."

"Oh, thought of a punishment, have we?" he mumbled, but other than that he stayed quiet.

"By the way, Soldier Johnson, your number is twelve. Be sure not to forget that."

"Twelve?" he muttered. "_Twelve_? I'm so far down on the list I'm only number twelve?"

"Number Four," continued Boggs, as if there had been no interruption. "You will do everything that I or Jackson tells you to do. That is the most important rule above all. Following our orders could be the difference between life and death."

"True," said Bryce, back to his louder tone, "it could be. Either follow your orders and die, or don't and live!"

That was it. Enough.

I turned around and slapped Bryce across the face. He groaned and fell to the floor, and I rolled my eyes. Honestly, I hadn't hit him that hard. Wimp.

Then I realized I wasn't the only one who thought Bryce had spoken one time too many.

"Soldier Everdeen, Mason, Odair, Mitchell, Homes, and you too, Messalla, that was very…" I smirked as Boggs tried to find an appropriate word. I was almost positive he normally would have used 'unreasonable'. He abandoned his search, probably after realizing 'uncalled for' wouldn't work either, and shaking his head he just said; "Get back to your positions. You need to learn to control your temper. Soldier Johnson, get your act together and get up off the floor!"

Tears streaming down his face, Bryce staggered upright, trying to nurse his jaw (where I'd slapped him), his arms (where Homes and Mitchell had punched him), the back of his head (where Finnick had hit him), his foot (which Messalla had stomped on) and, rather disturbingly, his groin (where Johanna, being the lady she was, had kicked him) all at the same time. I tried unsuccessfully to keep a smile off my face as I watched him.

"Now. Any one who does not comply with the rules will sit out after the first offence, and will leave after the second. Punishments may be changed depending on the severity of the rule breakage."

As Boggs paused, we all waited for some snide comment to come from Bryce, but, thank goodness, none did. Although, I swear some of them wished he would say something, just so they had a reason to hit him again. I'm not actually sure where I stood on that front.

"Does everyone understand?" asked Boggs. There was a murmur as everyone said that they did, and a groan of acknowledgment from Bryce. "Alright then. Just to make sure… One!"

"Two!" Said Jackson.

"Three," I said.

"A little louder Katniss, we need everyone to be able to hear you," said Jackson.

"Three!" I said louder. Jackson nodded.

"Four!" cried Peeta.

"Five!" said Finnick.

"Six!" said Johanna.

"Seven!" said Mitchell.

"Eight!" said Homes.

"Nine!" sang Cressida.

"Ten!" said Messalla.

"Eleven!" growled Gale.

"Twelve," muttered Bryce, still angry about his 'attack'.

"Sorry, Soldier Johnson, couldn't hear you" said Jackson. "Say it again?"

"Twelve!" He said.

"Sorry?"

"TWELVE!" He screamed.

"Shhh!" cried Boggs. "We have to be quiet! We don't want Snow to find us before we've even started!"

If looks could kill, we'd be needing a new commander.

~~0~~

"Every one in position?"

"Ready!"

"Lets go then."

"No! Wait! Stop!"

"What's wrong?"

"Katniss! To the left!"

"On it."

"No, not there! The explosion is going to be _there_!"

"Here then?"

"No! Get over to where the bees will- Peeta! Watch it! You can't go there!"

"Where should I go?"

"Just over to the- Whoa! Finnick! What are you doing? Get out of there! Now!"

"But-"

"No! Now!"

"Do as she says Finnick, trust me, your life depends on it!" Called Messalla. "She has an awful temper when things don't go her way!"

"Hey!"

"It's true!"

"Uh, Cressida? You never said where you wanted me to go."

"Ah yes. Peeta, you head over by Katniss… yeah, that's good there. That pod should send the giant bees straight at you, just keep firing at them and you'll be fine. If it looks like you'll be overwhelmed, call out and Messalla can activate this pod, which _should_ trap them in a net. Is that right, Boggs?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Brilliant. Oooh, these shots are going to be amazing!"

"Yes, well, getting on with those amazing shots…" droned Bryce.

"Ah yes. Johnson, you need to get out of the shot for a minute, this one id off Peeta and Katniss. Got stand over with Finnick by the- FINNICK! I said by the tree, not by the bees! That's not Katniss and Peeta! You and Johanna will get your shot soon! Boggs, a little help, please?"

"Finnick, do as she says."

"Fine. It's just this seemed the most interesting propo we've done all day."

I sighed. We had been at this for hours now. At first, we had been very serious, doing exactly what Boggs and Jackson told us, keeping quiet, and keeping watch. But the area we were in had been long since evacuated, and nothing had happened. We had relaxed and lapsed our security measures. At the moment, the group was lounging against a large tree in someone's front yard, with the exception of Peeta, Finnick, Cressida and I. Peeta and I were getting ready to do yet another propo, Cressida was trying to film us and Finnick was trying to get in on the action. He was right; this would be one of the more interesting propos. So far, all of the ones we had shot involved running, jumping, dodging and a bit of shooting. This one might actually involve a bit of action; the pod would set off an explosion, which we would duck – we had done this in the morning, but this time, after the explosion half a dozen giant bees would rise out of the ground and attack us, and we would actually get to fight something.

None of us here actually enjoy violence, but they're mutts and not real creatures… also, it gets incredibly frustrating doing hardly anything in the middle of a war.

"Right then. Are we ready?" asked Cressida as soon as Finnick had slouched over to the tree.

"Yes," said Peeta and I in a dry tone, lifting our guns.

"Good. Three, two, one, aaaaaand action!" I tired not to roll my eyes; Cressida must be getting bored too. I aimed my gun, and, calling for Peeta to duck, pulled the trigger.

The moment the gun went off, I fell flat onto my face, waiting to hear the tinkle of glass as the pod, which was disguised as a glass jar, broke.

But nothing happened.

I heard Bryce's cold laughter erupt from by the tree.

"Ha! Missed! Maybe you'd better go back to Thirteen for some more practice, Katniss!"

I felt myself turn red and pulled myself off the ground, but felt a smile erupt onto my face as I heard the tell-tale sound of Johanna's hand connecting with Bryce's face. We had been hearing that sound rather a lot over the course of the day.

"I do remember you missing four of your pods this morning," said Finnick, glaring at Bryce. "And that was Katniss' first miss."

Bryce shot a scathing look at Finnick before turning away, his hand against his cheek, which had turned a flaming red colour.

"I think we should move closer," said Boggs. "It is a small target after all. I would suggest that you use your bow rather than your gun, but then you wouldn't be able to shoot quickly enough and might get overrun by the bees."

"But if we move closer, won't we be overrun by the bees anyway?" asked Peeta. "I thought that was the reason we were so far back in the first place. Also, if we move forward we won't be able to use the net without getting caught in it ourselves."

Boggs nodded.

"You're right. Here's what we'll do; you can move forward, and Johanna and Finnick will join you."

"There should be at least two more than that if they are to get close enough for it to be worth it," said Jackson. "Why don't you say this can be a propo for everyone, and go even closer? Peeta and Katniss can have their own propo later, maybe on that pod which releases a lion? I'm sure they could take that out nicely."

"Good idea. Cressida!" called Boggs, "We'll have everyone but me, Soldier Jackson, Messalla and yourself in this shot. Everybody, move forward! A bit closer, a bit closer… yes, that'll do. Now then, when Cressida says so, Katniss, shoot that pod. Everyone fall to the ground on Katniss' signal. The moment the shock-wave has passed over you, get up, and start shooting. There will be smoke, but the bees will be there, understand?" We all nodded, except for Gale.

"Commander, are you sure you want me in this?" He asked. "I haven't done a propo with Peeta yet, or Katniss. I've only been with Mitchell, Homes, Johanna and Finnick. Are you sure you want me in this one?"

"Yes," said Boggs. "You haven't done anything wrong yet, and we do need a shot of you working with Katniss, preferably with Peeta as well, so people don't think she's swapped boyfriends or anything." I felt my face grow hot at this statement, but, thankfully, no-one noticed. "Don't you think that it would be better to get that shot with everybody else, rather than just the three of you?"

Gale sighed and nodded, but he still looked apprehensive, and maybe a little scared.

"Okay then. Cressida, when you're ready."

Cressida smiled, but she looked a little nervous this time. I felt nervous too, actually. The other way we were doing it, with just Peeta and I, had been so carefully planned that we were sure nothing could go wrong. This time though, we had no fall back plan… as Peeta had said, we couldn't use the net, and we were all so close to the pod…

"Three, two, one, aaaaaand action!" called Cressida.

"Get down!" I yelled, and everyone fell to the floor. I lifted my gun, and aimed carefully, then, after silently hoping that everything would turn out okay, pulled the trigger and fell flat on my face.

The explosion was bigger than we thought it would be – or maybe it was just because we were a hell of a lot closer. It was still small though, and we didn't get hurt. However, the world seemed to split apart as my ears pounded with noise, and heat rippled across my back. Suddenly, even though I was as flat as I could be it almost felt as if I were being pushed backwards as a blast of pressure smashed against me. I realized that this must be the shock-wave, and the moment it passed, I jumped up, lifting my gun again.

The street was full of smoke, and I couldn't see a thing. However, there was a buzzing in my ear.

I thought it was just the aftermath of the noise of the explosion, but it got louder, and louder, and louder, and suddenly I realized what it was.

Then I started firing.

Everyone else did as well, and soon the air was thick with gunfire. After maybe twenty seconds the smoke had cleared enough for us to be able to see. In front of us were four bees, each maybe seven feet from head to stinger. They were charging at us, stingers turned towards us, angered by the fall of their comrades, for two of their number already lay dead on the floor.

"Well," I heard Finnick say over the gunfire, "At least they can only get one of us each!"

They kept coming at us, but we kept firing. Soon, there was only three left… then two… then one…

Yes, there was only one bee left. But it was so close now, I wasn't sure if we'd be able to kill it in time.

The bee was heading straight towards Bryce. I know it's incredibly selfish and mean, but I sighed with relief when I realized that. As Finnick said, it could only get one of us, and I didn't want that one to be Peeta or me. In fact, Bryce was the person I would rather was attacked, and I'm sure everyone else felt the same.

Soon, the bee was so close it was dangerous to shoot at it in fear of shooting Bryce or Gale, who was standing next to him. It has bullet hole in it's wings and there was a green substance – which I figured was it's blood – seeping out from all over it's body, but, impossibly, it just kept on flying.

It was within metres of him now, and would have skewered him in seconds if he hadn't moved. Bryce jumped across and ran away, screaming like a little girl. Boggs and Jackson quickly grabbed their guns and ran forward to help, while Messalla and Cressida dropped their cameras and ran back to the tree; they weren't armed, and Bryce was leading the bee straight for them.

Still screaming, Bryce tripped over a camera and fell on the ground just as one of Boggs' bullets hit the bee in the head, killing it instantly. But, in his fall, Bryce had hit the pod Messalla had been standing near; the pod that activated the net.

As soon as I saw what happened, I grabbed Peeta and shoved him aside, but I needn't have bothered. We were over to the side of the street a little, so we could be in full view of the cameras. The net was in the middle of the street.

I watched as a net erupted around Mitchell and Homes, scooping them up towards the sky. I was confused as their skin seemed to immediately turn red and they cried out in pain, but soon I understood.

"It's a barbed wire net!" I cried, raising my gun.

"No!" Yelled Finnick, pushing my gun down. "We can still save them!"

"I know, Finnick! I'm not killing them, I'm going to try and break the wires!"

Comprehension flickered in Finnick's eyes, and soon the whole lot of us were shooting at the net.

"You idiots!" Yelled Bryce. "Let's leave them and go! The Capitol will know we're here now, lets get out while we still can!"

"NO!" yelled Peeta. "We are not leaving! They are our friends, and they would rescue us if we needed it. It's your fault their up there in the first place, so help us!"

Bryce grumbled something under his breath before raising his gun, but just before he pulled the trigger he seemed to see something, and redirected his fire.

"NO!" screamed Boggs, much like Finnick and Peeta had. "BRYCE, STOP!"

Time seemed to stand still as we watched another pod, this one shaped like a milk bottle, shatter.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"I thought I saw one of those bees move!" yelled Bryce. Anyway, it's not doing anything, just letting out a bit of mist, look!"

On the word mist, Finnick's, Peeta's, Johanna's and my eyes widened, and we all spun around. Mist may look harmless, but the four of us know that it an be deadly.

We lost a friend to mist.

When we saw it, however, Finnick, Peeta and I sighed with relief. It wasn't mist at all; it was just a little shimmer in the air, almost like gas.

Wait. Gas.

"Gas!" I yelled.

"Gas-masks on, people!" called Jackson, and we all reached into our packs. All, that is, except Johanna.

"No," she whispered.

"Soldier Mason, gas mask on!" yelled Jackson.

"No!" cried Johanna. I frowned; it didn't seem like she was disobeying an order. It almost seemed as if she were in denial, as if she recognized the gas, but couldn't believe that it was there.

"Soldier Mason, that's an order!"

"NO!" She screamed, finally taking her wide, scared eyes off the gas. "That's not gas," she said.

"Well, what is it?" asked Boggs, pulling off his gas-mask. The rest of us went to do the same, but didn't have time before Johanna spoke again.

"It doesn't matter! Run! Just run!"

"But-" Boggs was cut off as a low rumble sounded from the ground as a crack opened.

"RUN!" Screamed Johanna.

Not needing to be told a third time, we all sprinted off. But it was too late.

There was a second explosion, and a wave of mud erupted from the crack in the ground and headed for us. It looked just like the mud from our obstacle course.

Then something inside my brain clicked. It looked like the mud from our obstacle course. Just the sight of that mud had reduced Johanna to a gibbering wreck.

The Capitol must have used this stuff to torture her, and it was the worst form of torture she experienced.

"RUN!" I screamed, my voice joining Johanna's.

We had gone no more than five meters when an explosion sounded from the center of the mud-like substance, and it sprayed everywhere. Peeta pushed me down to the ground, crying out as some of the mud hit him in the back. Some landed on my face, but luckily I was still wearing my gas mask. We both got up and kept on running until the mud stopped. As we collapsed back on the ground, I pulled the mask off quickly to inspect it.

Where the mud had touched the mask… well, the mask wasn't there. It was almost as if the mud had made the parts of the mask that it had touched disappear. Gasping as I realized that it had gone on Peeta's back, I quickly got back up again and took a quick look, letting out the breath I had been holding when I saw that his shirt had caught most of the stuff, and that his skin was only a little sore.

Others weren't as lucky as us. Boggs also had burns on his back, but worse than Peeta. Jackson's pants were almost completely gone and her legs bright red. Finnick was probably the worst though; he had rolled his sleeved up to his elbow, and a large portion of the skin on his right forearm was gone. I went over to him and pulled off his shirt – he seemed to be in shock – and put it on his arm. He seemed to come back to senses then and yelped in pain, but held the shirt to his arm nonetheless. I glanced around at everyone else.

Johanna was surprisingly calm, and was helping Gale up off the floor. Bryce was no-where to be seen.

I frowned, thinking that our group was much larger than this. Then I remembered Homes and Mitchell, and quickly looked up at them.

I immediately looked back down and threw up.

The net had been hovering almost directly over the spot where the mud had exploded and… well… I don't think I need to add the details. Suffice to say there wasn't much left.

And yet… and yet, one of them was still alive.

I saw him move his hand. There he was, with his skin… his skin… well…

I promptly threw up again.

"One!" croaked Boggs.

"Two!"

"Three," I managed to force the word past my lips.

"Four," muttered Peeta as he came over to me and started rubbing soothing circles into my back.

"Five."

"Six."

We all waited for a second, refusing to look up. After a moments pause, Cressida, who only a couple of small burns on her arms, called out:

"Nine."

"Ten!" Came Messalla's voice from down the street a little ways. I heard Cressida sigh with relief, and I felt a wave of guilt surge through me as I realized I hadn't thought about my camera crew since the bees.

"Eleven," said Gale, who had a small burn on his left cheek – his gas mask seemed to have helped him as well – the shirt covering his left shoulder was missing, revealing the shiny red skin underneath. He was also missing most of his trousers on his left leg.

We all waited to hear a grudging 'twelve', but didn't come.

"Search party?" asked Jackson.

"No," croaked Boggs, having difficulty talking. "We need to get out of here. He wouldn't do the same for us, anyway. And if we don't leave now..."

Before he could reach for his communicator to call the hovercraft, another spatter of mud rained down upon us.

I heard more people yelling out as mud hit them. I could hear Jackson yelling at us, and I pulled Peeta towards the house she was gesturing to. As we got through the door, my foot caught on a rug, and I fell, pulling Peeta down with me. We were both too exhausted to move, and so, as we were safe from the mud, we just lay there.

As everybody else trickled through the door, I counted them with my tired eyes. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Finally, Gale came in. His eyes were wild, and he looked half mad. I realized with a jolt that he probably _was_ mad. Just as that thought entered my mind, Gale made that same noise heed made back in Thirteen in the training center – the one that could only be described as a snarl.

"Get off her, Peeta Mellark," he growled. "Get off her now or you'll never move again!"

* * *

**If anyone is having any trouble visualizing the bee part... well... for any fellow Doctor Who fans out there, just imagine the wasp from the Episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (4.7) only with a bee, not a wasp (obviously.) Those of you that haven't watched that... well... I'm sure you all know what a bee looks like. **

**By the way, thanks to _EchoDeltaNine_ for the inspiration on the Bryce part... you're right, he really did need a slap in the face! I enjoyed writing that part. =P**


	22. Theories

**Disclaimer: no, no, no, no and no. Not mine. **

* * *

**Chapter 22**

Theories

Peeta slowly moved off me, but stayed between Gale and I. I wanted to push Peeta behind me and tell him Gale was more likely to attack him than me, but I was afraid that any sudden movements might cause him to attack.

"Gale," I whispered. "Calm down. Everything will be alright – we're safe in here."

"No, we're not!" he spat, gesturing to Peeta. "_That_ is in the same room as us. We're not safe with _him_."

Finnick started to creep around the back of Gale, motioning us to keep distracting him. I groaned. This couldn't end well.

"Gale," said Peeta slowly. "We aren't going to hurt you. I am not going to harm Katniss in any way. She's right – we're safe here, for now at least. You aren't helping anyone by being angry."

"Stop trying to get me to let my guard down, _mutt_," snarled Gale. "I know what you're doing, you're waiting for me to relax and then-"

-_thump!-_

Gale fell limply to the ground and Finnick sighed.

"Sorry about that. I hope I didn't hit him too hard…"

Boggs pulled out a set of handcuffs, and tried to attach them to Gale's wrists, but struggled due to the burns on his fingers.

"Here," I said, taking the cuffs from his hands. "I'll do it."

I felt strange to be handcuffing my friend, but I forced myself to return to the mindset I had been in the night before. This wasn't Gale. This was a mutt. At least for now… I would help him as soon as we had gotten out of this mess.

"So," said Finnick, glancing at Boggs. "What's the plan?"

"For starters… One."

"Two."

"Three."

"Four."

"Five."

"Six."

"Nine."

"Ten."

"And we all know Gale is here," muttered Johanna.

"Alright then," croaked Boggs, "We need to find a way out of this house, probably around the back or something. It seems The Capitol has made their houses pod proof – they don't want to have to build a new city every time one is set off – but we can't stay here forever. They must know we set off the pod, and I'm sure they'll be able to figure out the fact that we're in one of the houses. Where else could we be? So, if we can get out, I reckon there's enough room in the street behind us for a hovercraft." He pulled his holo out of his pocket, activated it and started to study the map.

"Hovercraft? We're leaving?" asked Johanna.

"Yes," said Jackson in a defeated tone. "Look at us. We all need medical attention. Serious medical attention. We could all die if we stay here much longer, and not just because the Capitol might find us."

I looked around to see that she was right. Everyone's injuries had become a lot worse after the second blast.

"Right," said Finnick. "Lets call Haymitch then."

Boggs grabbed his communicator and walked into another room for a little more quiet, leaving us to tend to our wounds as best we could and chat amongst ourselves.

I walked Peeta over to a sofa and got him to lie down on his stomach, as his back was pretty sore, even though, luckily, his skin was still intact. Then Johanna and I, who seemed to be the least harmed, set out looking for a fist aid kit. We found one in the bathroom, and so I grabbed some supplies and headed straight to Peeta.

"What are you doing?" he groaned.

"What do you mean? I'm trying to lessen your pain, but if you don't want me too-"

"I know what your doing," said Peeta, shaking his head. "What I meant was, why are you here with me? There are others that are even more injured…"

"Exactly," I groaned, wrinkling my nose. "Do you not know anything about me? I'm letting Johanna deal with the more grisly stuff."

"You seemed fine about helping me during the Games after Cato skewered my leg."

"Urgh. Please don't remind me. But if you remember, you were half delirious, and therefore unable to notice how I felt about the whole situation. I remember struggling not to throw up as I drained pus from your leg!" I glared and Peeta's prosthetic leg, as if it was it's fault that I had had to endure such torture.

"True," he chuckled. "But that just proves that you can look at 'grisly stuff' when you have too. Are you sure that there is no other – ow!"

"Oh sorry, did that sting?" I smirked, dabbing ointment on his back. "If you want, I can just go and see how Finnick-"

"No, no, you can stay here," he muttered through clenched teeth. "That stuff had better help, it stings like crazy!"

"Haymitch is on his way," said Boggs, walking back into the room. "The hovercraft won't be able to land for long though, as we are in the Capitol, so we'll have to time this perfectly." We all nodded.

"So," said Jackson, "we'll be needing a way out of this house."

"There's a back door through there," said Johanna, gesturing to a hallway. "I saw it earlier when we were looking for a first aid kit. It opens up to an alleyway, which I think leads to the street behind."

"Brilliant. Lets go then."

We all got to our feet and stumbled towards the door. Then we remembered Gale.

"Oh great," I muttered. "Who's going to carry him?" In the end, Messalla succeeded in heaving him onto a large piece of cardboard we found in a cupboard, and then Johanna and I each grabbed a corner by his feet and dragged him out of the house. Boggs called up Haymitch again to tell him to get over to the street.

It was too dangerous to land, so instead a ladder lowered from the hovercraft, much like the one before the Hunger Games. Peeta and I exchanged a glance before we grabbed onto a rung.

The ladder had to do a couple of trips up and down to get us all, Johanna and Gale coming last. Thank goodness the ladder stopped anyone from falling, or I don't know how we would have gotten Gale up there.

Just as Boggs was about to close the hatch, we heard a voice down below, too far down to recognize, but close enough for us to make out words.

"Wait! Wait! Wait for me! I'm here! Come on, I thought you guys said you'd send a search party if we got lost! Don't go without me! Wait! Did you not notice I was gone? What was the number system for, huh? Well, Twelve, Twelve, Twelve, I'm here, now wait up! Lower the ladder!"

I know we were supposed to be happy that he survived, but that didn't stop the groan from resounding around the group when we heard the word 'twelve'.

~~0~~

As it turns out, Bryce wasn't injured at all. From the moment I had yelled out 'gas', Bryce had grabbed his mask and ran for it. I know Johanna had been yelling for us to run, but that still doesn't stop me from feeling angry at him. Worse than angry. He all but deserted. He abandoned us.

Not that he could have helped anyway, but he shouldn't have left.

Coin was furious when we got back to Thirteen. I'm not sure what made her fume the most; Bryce's confession or the sight of Gale with handcuffs around his wrists. I don't even know why that angered here, but it seemed too. Maybe it was because Boggs was right and she wasn't – she had thought Gale was ready for the mission, when he clearly wasn't.

Bryce was banned from all future 'special' missions. No matter how driven or connected to a tribute he was, his actions – and not just the running away part – were far to unacceptable to be a part of anything major. Even though what we were doing wasn't very big at all.

Speaking of big, Coin is planning something. She's always in command, calling other important people up to see her. There's big movements about the place – soldiers given more and more missions, extra orders for weapons, longer and harder training sessions, and the whole atmosphere is tense.

Everybody knows. No one has been told anything, but we just know; we can feel it deep down.

Coin isn't just planning anything. This is it. The big one. The last move in the game. The move that will determine whether we win or lose this war.

It was several weeks after we had returned from the Capitol that we heard for sure. Coin called a meeting for the entire district in the dining hall – those that couldn't ft would have to listen in over the speakers in their rooms.

When Peeta and I got to the hall, we headed straight to the stage, as that was where we were normally supposed to go. We were by ourselves, as Finnick's arm was still in a bad condition, and Johanna decided to listen in her room; she had been going through a lot of therapy since we got back from the Capitol, as the mud had freaked her out more than it first seemed – she had just been able to keep her calm while we were still in danger. Probably all that 'practice' in the arena, as Coin said. I hated her for that comment. You call going into an arena full of terrified, bloodthirsty kids trying to kill you practice for a rebellion? _Practice_? You have got to be kidding me.

Haymitch – after once again filling in the role of victor alarm clock – had also decided to watch in his room. I wondered why, but the question was answered when we entered the hall. It was packed – I remember thinking it was full for all of the other announcements, but it wasn't. _This_ was full; there was hardly room to move. I guess this news was more exciting than anything else yet; everybody could tell that this was going to be big. It took us ages to push out way to the front of the room; it wasn't that people didn't want to move, it was that they couldn't. That's how packed it was.

When we finally got to the stage, Coin didn't beckon us over like she usually did. She looked at us, frowned, and then went back to her conversation with a commander I had never seen before. However, when she stepped up to speak, man – I guess another commander – pushed us forward. I guess we were just there to show people that we approved of the plan.

Even though we had never heard it. And what would it matter if we had? It's not like Coin would listen to us.

She started off her speech with the usual 'the Capitol is hitting us hard, we have to fight back' sort of stuff. Then she went onto the whole 'our soldiers are doing well – let's strike when the iron is hot' stuff. It was similar to all of the stuff she's said before.

Whoa, since when did I become so critical of Coin? Well, I guess I've never really been fond of her, but I never sorted through every little thing she did. But that was before she sent me and Peeta on a mission with a man who thinks Peeta is a mutt and is trying to kill him… Why did she do that? What would she gain from it?

Then it hit me. Those propos we were doing weren't important. We had all known that all along. They could have been done without Peeta and I. We had done our bit. We had gotten all the Districts together. So what else could we do?

Nothing - at least not while we were alive. We had served our purpose.

The only left for us to do was die. Give the rebels a martyr to fight for. Because Coin must know that if Gale killed Peeta, I wouldn't live through it. Peeta and I had gone through too much together. I couldn't loose him without loosing myself.

After that thought, I zoned out. I couldn't hear Coin announce her plan. It didn't matter to me anyway. I knew she wouldn't have included us. As I said; she didn't need us. And after we had failed to die in the Capitol the first time, she wouldn't send us again and risk us messing up the whole operation. She would keep us hidden until the rebels either forgot about us or asked us to keep fighting, and maybe then would she send us out once more.

I briefly wondered if she had sent Bryce on that mission with us for the sole purpose of trying to get us killed. Without Bryce knowing of course – but he was so… so… _him_, that she must have known he'd do something to put our lives on the line.

At the end of the announcement, Coin read an exceptionally large list of squads that would be going., and surprise, surprise, we weren't on there. I wondered if anybody else would notice, but nobody did. Maybe they thought we were just going to do something else at that time. Or maybe they just didn't care about us anymore.

That announcement ended like so many others with Peeta steering me away from the hall, through the crowds and back to our room.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him.

"We can't do anything. She's the President, it's her decision. If she doesn't want us in the Capitol, then we aren't going."

I shook my head.

"No, that's not what I meant. What I mean is, what do you think she is going to make us do?"

"Probably more propos. She can't just let us do nothing, she'll have to give the rebels a reason why we aren't fighting. But just doing propos when the biggest fight of all is going on is going to be unacceptable for most people. They'll loose faith in us. Why is she doing this?"

I glance around the room, wishing I could explain my theory to him about Coin trying to kill us. But there were probably cameras and or microphones in the room. Coin wasn't that are off the Capitol when you think about it… but the things she sands for are better.

So instead, I just shrugged and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen out of a draw, and lay back on the bed with a sigh. Peeta seemed to understand what I was doing, and so he lay down next to me. I held the notebook above my face and started to write. It was rather hard and uncomfortable, but that way, even if there were cameras in the room they wouldn't be able to read what I was writing.

"Who are you writing to?" asked Peeta, keeping up pretenses.

"Mother," I said.

"Ah." Peeta fell silent, knowing how much I hated talking about her. I had been to see her once since we had returned, but she wasn't any better. Loosing both father and Prim seems to have broken her. Once, she told me she wished she could forget them both. That had cut me deep. What was it she had told me before?

"_Love was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not once do I regret loving your father_."

She seems to have had a rather drastic change of heart. She is no longer my mother. She used to cherish my fathers memory; I know she loved him more than anything, except maybe Prim and me, and that she would never, ever willingly forget him. She's changed, and so have I.

I sighed, and passed my 'letter' over to Peeta.

"Proof read?" I asked. "I wouldn't normally, only I'm a bit angry with her at the moment and I don't want to insult her…"

Peeta quickly scanned the writing, then sighed and folded it up.

"It's alright, but in one of the lines you sound really mad that she isn't doing much… just the tone of the way you told her too get up and do something was a little bit-"

"Alright, I get it," I mumbled, scrunching up the paper. "Maybe I'll write another one later." I wasn't sure what to do with the letter – I didn't want anybody reading it – so I shoved it in my pocket.

"What do you think though?" I asked Peeta. "You know, about the mission we aren't going on."

"I think maybe we should ask Coin what she wants us to do." I could tell by the glint in his eye that he agreed with my theory.

"Why?" I asked, gesturing to my pocket which held the paper.

"Well, I think you got it right," he said, "which almost makes me hope that we won't have to... you know…" I frowned. What was he saying? Did he not want to help the rebellion? "I just don't want to loose you, Katniss. And on this raid, well, anything could happen. I just don't think I could function if you were gone. I think I would end up somewhat like your mother is now – sans the forgetting part, of course."

"I think I would to," I said, realization flooding through me. "I think… I think I understand why she is like that now. I can't imagine what it would be like to loose you…" my voice trailed off, and I looked away from Peeta's sad, blue eyes and instead pretended to examine the grey fabric on the bed. Peeta wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him. Wrapped in his embrace, I kept talking. "I can't imagine what it would be like to loose you, but I think I have an idea. In the arena, when I thought you were dead, I just…" Peeta gave me a squeeze and I took a deep breath. "But If I did loose you, for real I mean, I know that I would be in so much pain, it would be hard to function. And I think that if anyone were in that amount of pain, they might just start wishing that the person they cared about never existed at all. That way, you wouldn't be so sad. I think that's the stage my mothers at. She's gone through the pain twice now. I know that I would never swap my memories of you for anything, but if were to go through all that, I don't think I would be the same person anymore."

"It's alright, Katniss, I'm not going anywhere."

"But this is a war, Peeta! Anything could happen! Even if we are cooped up in Thirteen for the rest of the war, you could still get hurt!" I refrained from using die… the words Peeta and die do not go well together in any sentence. "Look at what happened to Prim! She never left this district since she got here, not once did she go up to the surface, and where is she now?" I became aware of those terrible sobs ripping through my chest again. I turned my head and buried my face in Peeta's chest, trying to push thought so losing him out of my mind.

"Shhh, Katniss, it will all be okay. Just calm down."

"How do you know that?" I whispered, desperate for some reassurance.

"Because I won't leave you. I will never leave you. I promise."

I nodded, pulling myself even closer to Peeta.

"Thank you. I needed that."

"Anytime," he whispered, pressing his lips against my hair. When I felt that, I lifted my tear stained face and captured his lips with mine. He seemed a little shocked, but kissed me back. I deepened the kiss, pressing up against him, running my fingers through his hair. After a few moments, Peeta pulled away.

"Katniss," he moaned, "Not now."

"Why not?" I felt my face slip into a pout.

"Because you don't really want to. You're upset and angry, and you'll regret it later."

"How do you know what I want?" I asked. "I won't regret it, Peeta. I'm not the same Katniss that left for the Quarter Quell. I've changed, and I love you."

"I love you too, but I still think that-"

"No," I whispered. "Trust me."

Before he could respond, I pressed my lips against his again, and this time, he didn't try to stop me.

~~0~~

That evening, our group – at least those of us that were allowed out of the hospital – were told to go to Command. I frowned when I heard. What was Coin going to ask us to do?

There were only a few of us there from our group of Twelve. There was Peeta and I, Jackson, Johanna, Cressida, Messalla and, surprisingly, Gale.

"What is he doing here?" I growled the moment I saw him.

"I'm a part of this squad," Gale replied. I ignored him, knowing that he couldn't have any idea of our suspicions towards Coin. I kept looking at the President. "And where is Boggs?"

"_Commander_ Boggs is with another squad," said Coin. "That is one of the things I wish to talk to you about. This mission is mainly fighting. You lot have done your job amazingly, and every district is rallied to our cause. We have moved all of the civilians to a safe center not far from the Capitol."

"Not far from the Capitol?" asked Cressida. "Are you sure that that's a good idea? What if Snow gets wind of their-"

"It is a good idea," said Coin, sparks flying from her eyes. "The Capitol will not think we would put them so close. We had to get them out of the Districts as the Capitol may try to attack them as soon as they realize our troops have moved out. And why do you think you have the right to speak anyway? You are just camera crew."

I watched as Cressida's face fell and felt anger course through me. But I forced it down. No mater how cold Coin was, she was still the leader of the rebellion.

"Hang on, you got _everybody_ out?" asked Johanna. "Everybody? That's thousands and thousands of people… why? How?"

"I believe I have already told you why," said Coin in a bored manner, "And it does not matter how, only that it is done. But we are not here to talk about such matters. This final mission will be conducted by every _military_ squad we have. They will storm the Capitol and capture Snow. There is a much more detailed plan, of course, but I shall not relay details here." I frowned and shared a glance with Peeta, knowing what Coin meant when she put the emphasis on 'military'.

"We aren't going, are we?" said Peeta.

"I never said anything of the sort," said Coin. I glanced up, my frown deepening. What was she doing? "True, this squad as a whole will not be going," she continued. "Finnick's arm is still too damaged, Boggs has partially lost the ability to speak and so has been assigned another role, Mitchell and Homes are dead, Bryce has been discharged. Johanna, you will be staying here with Finnick."

Johanna growled quietly but otherwise stayed silent.

"Peeta, Katniss, you two will be going to the Capitol. You will not join the fight, but you will still be there, lest the rebels loose faith in you. Cressida and Messalla, you will accompany them and film what they are doing. The story is you were both injured when Finnick and Johanna were, but you jut _had_ to be there to see the fall of the Capitol. Gale will be going with you, as the public demands to see Katniss and her childhood friend back on friendly terms."

"What!" I cried out before I could stop myself. "We are going with him?"

"He has had more training since the last incident," said Coin, "And he should be able to cope this time."

"Should?" I growled. "_Should_? What happens if he can't? What if he tries to kill Peeta again?" Peeta sighed and took my hand, rubbing those soothing circles into it with his thumb.

"As I said," said Coin in a hard voice, "He should be able to handle it. On the very unlikely chance that he doesn't, you know what to do. You handled it well last time."

"Last time we were in a house with no peacekeepers or anything to run from," said Johanna quietly. "What would happen if they are being chased and Gale turns against them?"

"They'll deal with it. As I said, it is very unlikely."

I squeezed my eyes shut. That almost confirmed my theory. She wanted us dead.

"So, we're going as figure heads?" asked Peeta.

"Essentially, yes. We'll need you in the Capitol for the official surrender – or victory, what ever you want to call it – so when you have been filmed, get to the safe place where the District civilians are being held – Soldier Jackson knows where it is, she will be with you also – and wait there. You will be collected and sent to the Capitol when the battle is over and we have won."

She was awfully confident. She was also referring to us as if we were some sort of package.

"Right," said Peeta. "I guess that makes sense…" he seemed to be trying to decide whether to be irritated that we wouldn't be doing much or relieved that I wouldn't be in direct line of fire.

After the meeting, Peeta and I went with Johanna to see Finnick. When we told him about Coins plan, hinted our theory of her wanting us gone and told him he would have to stay in Thirteen, he was outraged. He spend a while breathing heavily and asking us what we were going to do to let us fight, and Annie had to talk to him softly for a while t get him to calm down. It was quite ironic, really, normally it's Finnick calming her down.

When he did calm down, however, he spoke to us in a clear, plain voice.

"You have to do something. You can't just sit back and watch it happen. You have to get in there. For all of us Victors. For the lost tributes. We have more right than anyone to get back at Snow. Don't let Coin take that away from us. I seems that I can't help, and neither can Johanna, but you two can. You've always been special, the only two tributes to ever make it out together, the two that beat the Capitol and stirred up the rebellion. Do this for us."

"I know you're right, but how?" I asked. "How can we convince Coin to-"

"Don't try to convince her. It won't work."

"Then how-"

"Come here," said Finnick, a grin spreading across his face. "I have a plan."

"Oh no," said Peeta. "Here we go…"

* * *

**Hope that answered a few questions. And no, Bryce did not set off the pod on purpose n the last chapter, he was just being an idiot. He really did think that one of those bees was moving. I guess I should have explained that better. **


	23. Disguises

**Disclaimer: Alright, I think you get the point... IT AIN'T MINE!**

* * *

**Chapter 23**

Disguises

Finnick's plan actually turned out to be a good one, despite Peeta's worries. The problem lay in executing it.

"You do realize that we are two of the most well-known people in Panem, right?"

"Yep," said Finnick bluntly.

"And you know that we are the faces of the rebellion?"

"Yep."

"And you think that a little bit of makeup and a new outfit will be enough to disguise us?"

"Yep."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Say something other than 'yep'!"

"Nope."

"Urgh!"

"Calm down Katniss, this will work. It's a good plan," said Fulvia. I groaned. Why did we have to let her in on the plan? I know we need her but she just doesn't really seem like the best choice, if you know what I mean.

"I know it's a good plan," I said, "and it would work perfectly with anyone else, but just not with us."

"You won't be you though," said Fulvia. "You'll be completely unrecognizable by the time we're done with you."

"Wait - _We're_?"

"Ah yes, Venia, Flavius and Octavia will be helping with the make up stage."

"Do they know-"

"They know nothing of the, erm, plan," said Fulvia. "They think you are staying in Thirteen and don't want to be recognized because you're sick of the attention… yes, I know, not the best cover story, but it was the best we could do at the time. Now then, follow me."

Fulvia led me to the room where I had prepared for that first announcement, when Coin had informed the rebels of our deal after I had decided to be the Mockingjay. My prep team was in there, and they immediately began to work on us, making us look nothing like we had before.

With tears in his eyes, Flavius began attacking my hair with a pair of scissors. And a pot of dye. After making my hair a lighter color, he cut it off at odd angles, then started to frizz it up, finally pulling it back into a messy pony tail. Then, Octavia began to apply some sort of paste to my pale skin, which, when washed off, gave my skin what she called a 'healthy, summer glow'. Then she applied makeup to my face to highlight and shadow certain areas, making it look completely different than it had before. Venia, for once, didn't touch my nails, and actually used another sort of paste that was supposed to make my eyebrows grow back from the plucking they had endured before the last propo. Then, she gave me some sort of plasticy thing to put in my eyes, which she said would change the color. Then they added makeup to my lips and around my eyes. When they were done I looked in the mirror and gasped. Finnick had been right. There was no way anyone could recognize me.

I had brown, frizzy hair and bright green eyes. My skin was a light brown color, and my face just looked… different. My nose looked a little smaller, my eyes a little rounder and my lips a little fuller.

"Thanks, guys," I whispered. "This is amazing."

I heard footsteps and turned to see a man. He had messy black hair and shining brown eyes, with skin much the same colour as mine was. I wouldn't have known it was him if he hadn't spoken.

"Katniss?" he asked. I would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Peeta?"

He looked nothing like he used to. And not just because of his hair and eyes. Also, his face, like mine, looked a completely different shape.

"Wow," said Fulvia, coming back into the room. "You lot did a great job." My prep team smiled in appreciation, and then left the room. I frowned. They had been a lot quieter since they had come to Thirteen. They used to talk non-stop. And the way they looked at me… they almost seemed like they were feeling guilty or something.

"Who's that?" asked Peeta, gesturing to a man standing behind Fulvia.

I had never seen him before, and yet he seemed familiar somehow. But he couldn't be. He had bright red, wavy hair and shining blue eyes. Surely I'd remember some one like that.

"Katniss, Peeta, this is… Thomas Dwight. He'll be joining you on your mission… Finnick thought it would be better if you had some-one else with you."

I frowned. Finnick knew that we wanted to be by ourselves. Besides, if the plan worked, we would be with plenty of specialized soldiers when we got to the Capitol. Why did we need another person? This was so odd… it was supposed to be a plan to get us into the Capitol, just us. And now Finnick wants us to go with… this guy?

I must say, this seems a little out of character.

This sounds like something Haymitch would- wait.

"Finnick," I growled, "Did you tell Haymitch about this?"

"Uh, well, yes, I did actually. It was his plan in the first place… he agrees, you guys have more right than anyone to kill Snow. So he wants to give you a chance. But I had to take the credit because if Coin finds out-"

"Alright, alright, I get it," I said. "And I bet you just loved taking the credit, didn't you?"

Finnick winked at me.

"So, are you happy to go with Thomas?"

"Erm…" I thought for a moment. This was Haymitch's idea, and had he ever meant to harm me? Had following his instructions ever lead me into a bad, well, worse situation? No, it hadn't, unless you count his plan about pretending to love Peeta make the Capitol want to kill me and my family, but hey, it got us out of the Games alive. And if I were back there now, I would do exactly the same thing all over again.

I glanced at Peeta, and he nodded, clearly having similar thoughts.

"Alright then, I guess," I said, and Peeta nodded.

"Right then," said Finnick. "Let's get you in a squad! We have passes for you, which say you've completed you're training – you'll need to memorize the information on those, by the way, just in case they check. When you're in a squad, you will get into the Capitol, and then what you do is up to you, I guess. You can either stay with the group, and have little chance of actually getting to Snow, or go off by yourself, which is extremely dangerous. Haymitch's suggestion was to stay with the soldiers until you get close enough, and then peel off."

"If that's what Haymitch's suggestion was, then I guess that's what we'll do," said Peeta, sending a questioning glance at me.

"Definitely," I said.

"Right then," said Finnick, off you go!"

"Wait, what are we supposed to-"

"Don't worry, Katniss, I've explained it all to- erm, Thomas." He glanced around slightly, then leaned in towards me. "Watch out for him, Katniss. No, he's not a spy, don't worry, but he has a… bit of a temper, and he's had a bad past… he may react badly to different… situations… and he has a bit of a grudge towards Peeta. Not completely sure why…"

Fulvia heard us, jumped and ran forward.

"He's from District 5. He had a sister in the 74th Hunger Games, and Peeta killed her. I think you knew her as Foxface."

"Foxface?" I asked, glancing over at Thomas. He looked nothing like Foxface had. The only feature in his face that was the same was his read hair, and even that was a different shade. "Are you sure? They don't look anything alike."

"Well, look at you and Prim," said Fulvia, then quickly put a hand over her mouth. "Oh, Katniss, I'm sorry-"

"It's alright," I said sadly, shaking my head, trying to get the memories out. I needed to concentrate. "But I guess you're right." I glanced over to Thomas again. "And yeah, I suppose that would make sense."

"Hang on a sec," said Peeta, having heard our conversation and clearly sharing my suspicions as he walked over to us, "why wasn't he interviewed at the final eight?"

Fulvia and Finnick shared a frantic glance, then, after a few seconds, Finnick spoke up.

"They used to fight a lot, and they weren't very close. He didn't want to be interviewed, and as he seemed really distant or whatever, the Capitol let him be."

That seemed odd. Since when did the Capitol let other people do what they wanted. I narrowed my eyes.

"If they weren't close, why does he hate Peeta so much?"

"Because," said Finnick, drawing the word out, "it made him feel guilty, like he should have spent more time with his sister."

"Right, that makes sense," said Peeta. Then he walked over to Thomas. "Hello, I'm Peeta Mellark. Nice to meet you." Thomas scrunched his nose up and looked away, breathing heavily.

"Well, that's not very polite," I said, moving forward. "I'm Katniss Everdeen." Thomas shook my hand, but he didn't say a word. "Well, you could at least say hi back," I huffed.

"Actually, he can't," said Finnick. "He can't speak."

"Well, at least he won't be as annoying as another sibling of a tribute we know," I huffed, and Thomas actually cracked a small smile.

"Oh, do you know Bryce?" asked Peeta. Thomas just glared at him, and Peeta sighed.

"Alright then," said Finnick. "Off you go."

~~0~~

"We have arrived. Everyone please leave the hovercraft and head towards their commander. Move as quickly as you can."

Peeta and I got up hurriedly and followed the others, Thomas trailing behind us. We had managed to make our way onto the hovercraft and were now in the Capitol. We followed the other soldiers – all who had been sent as extra backup – over to a large tent, where we would be sorted into squads. I handed over my certificate that proved I had passed the military testing when I got over to the front of the line, and waited nervously as the soldier scrutinized my appearance.

"Name?"

"Soldier Eliza Spearwood, sir," I said in a high pitched voice so he wouldn't recognize me, telling him the name on the certificate.

"I haven't seen you around before," he said.

"New, sir, " I replied quickly. "I arrived from District Four not so long ago, and was trained to be a soldier. I know I'm not that experienced, but I'm good, if I do say so myself. Coin has been sending everyone she can, sir."

"Of course. And you?" he asked gesturing to Peeta.

"Soldier James Whiteash, sir," said Peeta, deepening his voice.

"And you?"

"He's Soldier Thomas Dwight, sir," said Peeta. "He can't speak."

"Ah, now then, Soldier Spearwood, you will go to squad number-"

"Sir, Soldiers Whiteash, Dwight and I must be put into the same squad," I said. "We have a letter here from-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he said. "All of you, head for squad number four-oh-five, over there with Commander Paylor."

"Thank you- wait. Paylor?" I asked. Oh no. This was not good. Of all the commanders we could have had, we had to be given one of the only two that have seen me up close.

"Yes, Commander Paylor. Now, hop to it!"

"Yes sir," said Peeta, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to Paylor, who was explaining the rules of squad 405.

Could we have anyone worse in our squad?

"Well, at least we don't have to do something absolutely ridiculous in this squad, like _numbering off_, like a group of little primary school kids."

Apparently, we could.

"Oh no," I moaned.

~~0~~

"Pod coming up!" called a soldier at the front of our group.

"Which one?"

"Net!"

"Everyone, to the right of the street!" called Paylor.

We were walking through the Capitol streets, heading for the center of the city. The plan was to surround the central square with soldiers, get the civilians out of there, and then storm Snow's house. Obviously, it was going to be a lot harder than that, what with the pods and the peacekeepers and most likely a heap of mutts, but that was the general idea.

We were about half way in, still in the housing area, but the houses were getting larger.

"Pod coming up!"

"Which one?"

"Mist!"

"Alright, everyone _stay away_ from that pod, you got it! I don't want it set off at _any cost_, understood?"

I sighed. It would be so much more dramatic if it hadn't happened fifty times before in only 100 meters. Honestly, there were pods _everywhere_. I almost couldn't wait for the more populated part of the Capitol where the pods wouldn't be activated for fear of harming Capitol citizens, even if there would be peacekeepers.

People were starting to get bored, much like we had on our previous raid. I grimaced, remembering what had happened when we had gotten too confident. We had ended up almost being killed by giant bees, having two of our number caught by a barbed wire net and having our skin burnt of by acidic mud…

"Whoa – pod, pod, POD!"

It seems the people in this squad also got overconfident.

"What is it this time?"

"Waterfa- argh!"

Huge amounts of water started to flow from the roofs of the buildings so quickly it knocked us over. I gasped and reached out to grab Peeta's hand, who was on my right, and Thomas' shirt, who was on my left. No use getting separated.

"Everyone!" I heard Paylor yell in a gasping voice, "Get to the roof!"

Without a second thought, I pulled Peeta and Thomas to the closest house, and, spluttering, we got inside. We stood there for a while, gasping, but as water started to creep under the door we raced up the steps before climbing out the top window. How we got onto the roof with water pelting at us, stopping us for breathing and making it difficult to move let alone hold onto the gutter I will never know, but we made it. Luckily it was just water; I had been expecting kerosene or cement at least.

However, when we finally did make it to the roof, I realized that the water had done a lot of damage. It had cleaned all the make up off our faces and returned our hair to it's previous shape. The dye was still in it, of course, and we still had our contacts in, but the rest of it was gone. Peeta looked like Peeta, only with black hair and brown eyes. I glanced at Thomas briefly, then quickly looked away again. He was breathing heavily, like he was trying to calm himself down. I remembered what Finnick said about him reacting badly to difficult situations.

He looked different now too. I felt an even stronger feeling than before that I knew this man… but from where? I looked at him closely, and he turned away from me. I was about to ask him if I knew him – he could just nod or shake his head – when my thoughts were interrupted by another voice.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

I would recognize that voice anywhere. I turned around slowly to come face to face with a smirking and exceedingly wet Bryce Johnson.

"Katniss Everdeen, I believe," he said.

"Shut up, Johnson," growled Peeta, moving forward.

"And Peeta Mellark, how lovely. Aren't you two supposed to be in Thirteen? And why did you dye your hair? Black suited you better, Katniss."

"Shut up," I screeched. "If you know what's good for you, you will never breathe a single word of this to anybody else!"

"Oh don't worry, I won't," he said in a reassuring voice, catching me by surprise. Then he smirked. "I'll _yell_ _several_ words. I believe that fits with our restrictions?"

I jumped at him, trying to stop him, but he yelled out:

"KATNISS EVERDEEN AND PEETA MELLARK ARE UP HERE! THEY'VE DISOBEYED ORDERS! STAR-CROSSED LOVERS FROM DISTRICT TWELVE DISGUISED THEMSELVES AND WENT ON RAID! MOCKINGJAY AND BOYFRIEND SNUCK OUT OF THIRTEEN! KATNISS AND-"

"Shut up!" hissed Peeta, whacking him over his head.

"Honestly, Soldier Johnson, what are you, a newspaper headline?" Paylor climbed up over the edge of the roof.

Peeta groaned and I backed away.

"Commander!" called Bryce. "This is Everdeen and Mellark! They've snuck out of thirteen and-"

"Stop!" yelled Paylor. "I have had enough of your stories!"

Peeta and I exchanged a hopeful glance. Would Bryce's reputation be enough to save us?

"But commander! Look!" Bryce pointed at us. Out of reflex, Paylor glanced at us, and, upon seeing our black and brown hair, shook her head and looked away again.

"Soldier Johnson, I have been warned of your-" suddenly, Paylor's eyes widened, and she looked back at us. I could see in her eyes she recognized us. We shook our heads, and her eyes widened further. She seemed to be doing some quick thinking. "Soldier Johnson," she finally said turning back to Bryce. I groaned. This was it. We were found out. We were going back the Thirteen to be killed by Coin and- oh no! The Mockingjay deal! This consisted of stepping out of line! Coin was going to- "I think you are greatly mistaken. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are in District Thirteen. How could they have gotten out of Thirteen without Coin noticing? If you could recognise them, surely she would as well? Right then. The water has stopped now, I want you to get down to the ground and yell up to the other roof tops and get the rest of the squad down there. Use that loud voice of yours for something useful for once."

"But, commander Paylor, surely you can see that this is-"

"NOW!"

"Yes of course, I'm going now…" and with one last scathing look at Peeta and I, Bryce climbed over the edge of the roof and headed back down to the ground.

"Katniss. Peeta. I know that is you," said Paylor once Bruce was gone. We nodded. "Why are you here?"

"We want…" I glanced at Peeta, unsure of what to say. Peeta sighed.

"We wanted to help," he said. "We couldn't just sit there doing nothing, and neither could the others. I know Coin seems to want us to do more propos, but honestly, I don't think that is how we can help the rebels the most. Wouldn't it boost their morale more if we were fighting with them?"

"The why the disguises?" asked Paylor suspiciously.

"Well, you see, we had to get here first. This squad does not have a big part, so when we got into the Capitol, we were going to leave and join one of the larger groups."

" I see…" said Paylor, thinking. "Right then, I guess you're plan makes sense. But I need you to leave the squad now, as people will recognize you. Head for the square, it's straight ahead and we're almost there. When you are there, go to squad three-eight-four – they are the ones that are going to be out the front of Snow's house. I suggest you don't go in with squad three-four-two – you will be seen by more if you are out the front, and it would be better to let the more experienced people deal with Snow. Also, I take it you do not want to meet up with Coin?" we nodded vigorously. " I thought so. Try and get to the square before us, too; we will be blocking the road, remember?"

We nodded again and she smiled at us, then walked over to the edge of the roof. Before she climbed down, however, she said;

"Oh, and for future reference, I never saw you. I was helping Soldier Spearman, Soldier Whiteash and Soldier Dwight when they slipped from the gutter and ran away." We nodded, and then she left.

"Right then," said Peeta, glancing at Thomas and I. "Do we do what she said?"

"Obviously," I said. "We have no plan and not much of an idea of what Coin is doing. Paylor told us what she thought would be best for us to do."

Thomas nodded.

"Okay," said Peeta, "But how will we get there before them?"

Looked around carefully, and noticed that the houses were very close together, and that only two or so blocks down the houses became connected.

"Peeta, do you think you could jump that gap?" I asked.

"Probably," he said, looking at it. I sighed. I didn't want a probably. I didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt when there was an easier way.

Thomas grabbed my arm, and when turned to look at him he gestured over to the edge of the roof. Lying there was a tool box ad a large, strong plank of wood. Obviously, someone had been doing a repair job when they had to hurriedly evacuate. Grinning at Thomas, I grabbed the plank and lay it across the gap. It was long enough to span the gap with about twenty centimeters on either side. Thomas held the plank steady while Peeta and I crawled across, then I held it when Thomas crawled across. He had seemed more that just a little nervous when Peeta had tried to hold it; I think I might have too if my sister's killer had a way to chuck me off the roof of a three story building.

It was slow going, but we were able to keep up with the squad down below, as they were stopping every few moments for pods. When we got closer to the square, the roofs joined up, and we were able to leave our plank behind. We also moved ahead of the squad – they were no in the area where there were no pods, but people were wandering the streets. As they got closer, the people got thicker, and they were forced to push their way through. Several screams floated up to us from the road below as people realised what was going on; the Capitol was being invaded.

We expected everyone to run towards the square, as we had been told that that was where the Capitol people were staying once they had moved out of their houses, but the strange thing was, they were running away from it, back to the areas they had vacated.

Finally, we made it to the square. But when we got there, we did not see what we expected too. Instead of an area full of civilians, we saw an area full of peacekeepers. They were all moving around quickly, and seemed to be hiding themselves. Within minutes, all of the peacekeepers were gone. But if you looked closely you could still see them. Behind a door, peeking out from under a window, the but of a gun poking out from between curtains. Then I realized what was going on.

"Ambush," I whispered.

"We have to warn them," said Peeta.

I nodded, and we moved to yell at Paylor and her squad. Looking down from the roof, I could see them in position. Peeta checked the watch Finnick had given him.

"We still have about three minutes before the scheduled attack. Come on," he whispered. We started to move when Thomas grabbed our arms and gestured to the road behind squad 405. I gasped. Behind them was a cloud of gas, moving toward them. I wanted to go and warn them, but before I could move, the soldiers noticed. Some of the reached for their masks, before realising that none had been supplied for this mission. The rebels had not had enough masks for every person and so had given the masks to the groups that would be coming through the underground. So they began to run away from the gas towards the square.

Towards the ambush.

"Oh no," I whispered. I was about to run down to help them, but Peeta pulled me back.

"No, Katniss, you can't help them."

"But, the peacekeepers!" I yelled.

"They won't kill them all," said Peeta. "Snow can't risk wiping out our species." I nodded, but hated the way Peeta said 'kill them all'. Lots of them would die. And there was nothing I could do.

"At least we can warn them," I said, and stood up to yell.

"No!" yelled a voice, and something pulled me down. "Don't warn them, you'll only get caught yourself. Warn the other groups that aren't there yet; maybe we can catch them before the Capitol uses gas on them. They won't have all been sent at the same time or they would out number the peacekeepers."

I nodded at the person's logic, too stressed to find out who it was. But before we moved, Peeta called out and pointed back down to the square.

We were forced to watch as _every squad_ ran into the square at the same time. We all expected the peacekeepers to jump out and start firing. But they didn't.

When all the soldiers were in the middle of the square, a few peacekeepers jumped out and bent down, pressing something on the ground. Suddenly, there was a large zapping noise, then everything went quiet. I looked around frantically to try and figure out what they had done. Then I saw a faint square hanging in the air, about four meters of the ground. It shimmered.

"No," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut. "No, they can't!"

"They didn't…" said Peeta, glancing at me. I nodded.

Thomas sent a questioning look at me.

"Force field," Peeta and I whispered at the same time.

I watched a soldier, stuck in the trap, fired a shot at a peacekeeper. I watched as the bullet ricocheted off the force field and entered his body, killing him stone dead.

Once again, I felt the urge to jump off the roof and kill every peacekeeper in sight. But, once again, someone pulled me back, out of the line of a bullet that an observant peacekeeper had shot my way.

"Katniss!" yelled the same voice from before. "Stop doing that! Are you trying to kill yourself!"

I knew that voice. I knew it.

I looked at the speaker. Thomas.

"I thought you couldn't speak?" asked Peeta, glaring at Thomas suspiciously. Thomas didn't say anything.

I just kept looking at him. I knew him, I knew I did! I had noticed it before, but now, I had an urge in my gut, and I just knew I knew this person, and that voice…

Then it hit me. And when I did, I felt anger course through me like a wildfire.

"_Gale_? What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

**Okay, I hope that wasn't too confusing. Just ask if you need to.**


	24. Districts

**Alright! Three chapters in two days! Now, I want you to remember that when you read the next bit, yeah? Three chapters in two days. Right then. I'm going on a camp tomorrow, sorry about that, so there won't be any updates for at least a week.**

**Oh yeah; _EStrunk_: I guess I should have explained that one better, too; His makeup did wash off (but all of their hair and eyes stayed a different color) , that's why Katniss thought he looked different and more recognizable after the water, but she was distracted by Bryce. She also wasn't Expecting Gale to be there, so he didn't just jump to mind. **

**Everyone else; in case you're wondering from the last chapter, Gale's presence will be explained later on.  
**

**So, on with the chapter. This one is short, fast and a bit messy, but I hope it works. Again, if you're confused, just ask, either in a review or IM me. I guess I could change it, but I won't unless I really have to, like if it completely makes no sense or if I changed something by accident or whatever. Anyway... Gah, sorry for the rambling.  
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**Disclaimer: You can't have everything in life, and neither can I.  
**

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**Chapter 24**

Districts

"Well, as I have been with you the whole time I would have thought you'd know. But that's not what's important right now. We need to figure out what we're going to do."

"Right," I said, shoving my anger and disbelief aside. Gale had managed to get this far without attacking Peeta, so he should be able to make it a little further. "Right. What we need, is backup."

"Backup?" asked Peeta. "From where? Every soldier that came to the Capitol is stuck in that force field, and we can't get them out without backup, which we don't have. And every soldier from Thirteen came here. So what do we do?"

"The Districts," muttered Gale. "You're right. Everyone from _Thirteen_ came to the Capitol, but not the other districts."

"But they were all evacuated," said Peeta. "Even if they weren't, they're too far away."

"No," I said, smiling. "Don't you remember what Coin said?"

"About what?"

"The people. She said that they had all been moved to a safe area, and in order to stop Snow from finding them, that safe spot was located-"

"Near the Capitol," said Peeta. "But we don't know where."

"Yes, we do," said Gale, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an envelope. "Haymitch gave this to me. If we caught I had to burn it with this," he said, holding up a lighter. "Honestly, the plan was for you to go the safe spot, don't you remember? How were you supposed to do that if you didn't know where to go?"

"Oh, right," I said. "So, shall we go? We want to go as fast as we can, because-"

"We know, Katniss," said Gale. "It's this way."

~~0~~

"Katniss Everdeen?"

"And Peeta Mellark?"

"Why do they look like that?"

"Who's that with them?"

"Why are they here?"

"I thought they were in the Capitol."

"The Capitol? I thought they were hiding out in Thirteen, too scared of a big battle."

The whispers followed us as we crept through the hoards of people in the giant tent. Finally we reached the large raised platform at the side of the huge area. I was amazed that Coin had managed to do this; it was a huge tent, large enough for pretty much the entire population of Panem to lie on the floor comfortably. The top of the tent was modeled to look like grass to disguise it from any planes flying overhead. I shook my head as we walked. How Coin had managed any of this was beyond me. We walked up onto the, well, I guess you could call it a stage, and I glanced at Peeta nervously. He nodded, then stepped forward.

"Hello everyone!" he yelled, getting the attention of the people in the tent. His vice resounded through the area, making it possible for everyone to hear. "We are terribly sorry to butt in like this, but we have some news to share."

Much muttering followed this statement, and Peeta and I almost had to scream ourselves hoarse to be heard. Of course, it was _after_ that that some one thought to hand us a megaphone. Yeah, thanks a lot.

"All of you know about the Rebel movement in the Capitol right now, right?" asked Peeta, and the whole area nodded. "Right. Well, they, erm," I sighed as I watched him struggle for words. Peeta had normally been a brilliant speaker, but he didn't know how to say this without crushing the hopes of an entire nation. I sighed again and pushed him out of the way.

"People of Panem," I said through the megaphone. "Please, do not panic at any point during my speech, and do not interrupt. You will be wanting to hear the whole story before you run off. Understood?" I watched as everyone nodded again. "Right," I said, my voice sticking in my throat. I had never spoken to this many people before, well, at least not directly. It had always just been through a T.V. "Right. Peeta and I were in the Capitol," I began, purposely leaving out Gale in case some people reacted badly, "And we saw the beginning of the attack. The entire rebel force, including president Coin, is caught in a trap."

I paused cries rippled through the tent. Then I yelled through the megaphone again – causing it to screech loudly – reminding them of my request for them to not interrupt. When all was quiet again, I continued.

"The trap consists of a large force field, much like the one in the Quell, enclosing the center of the city square. Everyone is trapped inside, and it is surrounded by peacekeepers."

"How did you escape?" called a voice from the crowd. "Why did you just stand there watching? Why didn't you help them?"

Peeta moved to reply, but I held up my hand and stopped him.

"We weren't in the square," I said, "we were on the roof of one of the houses. Why were we up there? Well, we were trying to get down to help. You see, President Coin wanted us to stay in District Thirteen, but why would we do that? We want to help the rebellion as much as we can, and lets be honest, how is sitting in the hospital with Finnick and Johanna going to help us do that? We wanted to get out and _do_ something! So we snuck out, and went to the Capitol. That is why we had to disguise ourselves," I said, gesturing to our hair. "When we got to the square, we could see the peacekeepers trying to prepare an ambush, and we tried to warn the others, but it was too late. But, the important thing is, we saw them activate the force field, and we know where the switch is. Also, if that fails, I know how to destroy it; I saw Finnick destroy that one in the Quell."

"Why are you telling us this?" called another voice. I sighed.

"Don't you want to know?" Everything was quiet for a minute. Then:

"Well, we didn't expect anyone to tell us what was happening."

"Well, I'm telling you for two reasons," I said. "First, I believe you have a right. This war is not only deciding the fate of President Snow and the Hunger Games; it is deciding the fate of every single person living in Panem. You as well. SO why shouldn't you know?"

A round of appreciating murmuring filled the tent, then it quieted once more ad people wondered what else I was going to say.

"The second reason is because we need your help. As I said before, this war effects everybody, and after the Capitol's most recent move, we are loosing. Unless we can free our soldiers, what chance do we have? None! None at all! What I need is those of you from districts One, Two and Four that have had tribute training, as well as anyone else who thinks they can fight. Are there any weapons here?" I asked, my feeling of hope seeming to disappear. If there were no weapons…

"Yes!" yelled a man. "The soldiers stored their spare weapons in a tent over there, as it was closer to the Capitol than Thirteen."

"Good!" I called out. "I know that you people haven't had any training like the Peacekeepers have, but we have more numbers. I also know some of you from District Two may know some of the peacekeepers; if you do, try and convince them our side, it might just work! We may not have the training, but we have the motivation! Our reasons for fighting are much better than those of the Capitol! The Peacekeepers fight because they are afraid of Snow. Why do we fight? To make a better future!"

There was a roar of approval and I stepped back, my throat sore. Peeta took the megaphone back again.

"Everyone wanting to help rescue the soldiers please group outside the weapons tent. No people younger than… eighteen allowed, and no mothers!"

"But you're younger than eighteen!" yelled an angry teenager.

"Only just," said Peeta, "And we weren't thrown into this by choice. I don't want to turn into the Capitol – I don't want anyone to die before they even reach adulthood." After that, there were no more complaints, although I am sure a couple of sixteen and seventeen year olds managed to sneak into our ranks.

Peeta and I ran over to where the weapons tent was, just a couple of metres away from the main one, Gale following behind us.

Outside the tent were two guards who didn't want to let us in at first, but did once we had told them the situation. When we got in, we gasped simultaneously. The tent was no where near as big as the other one, but it was full of weapons. I only though the rebels had one gun per soldier, but I was very wrong.

Peeta and I gave the people a quick demonstration on how to use a gun, then we sent them in small groups at a time to get a gun each. By the time we were done, night had fallen.

"I do hope we get there on time," I whispered.

"I do too," said Peeta. We were both incredibly tired, but we couldn't wait. For all we knew, Snow could have been gassing the rebels, or they could have been moved to another location, though I have no idea how Snow would do that.

When everyone was armed, we set off at a march. When we reached the Capitol, we charged through the deserted streets; all the pods had been deactivated as the Capitol citizens had run away from the square earlier that day, and the people had moved on, so we could run undetected through the streets. I was extremely surprised; I knew there were cameras in the Capitol and expected some one to notice us. However, it seemed that Snow was confident he had all the rebels in the force field and had lowered his guard.

This became clear as we got nearer to the square.

There was a bit of music playing, and lots of laughter could be heard. Peeta and I climbed up onto the same roof as before to see the Peacekeepers having some sort of little party, celebrating their victory, no doubt. They were dancing around the edges of the square, laughing, pointing and jeering.

The rebels were still there, hunched in their force field. There were a couple of bodies inside there too; at first I wondered if they were asleep, but then realized with a jolt that they had run into the force field.

Climbing down from the roof, we relayed the situation to the people. Many of them looked terrified, but the majority looked determined.

"Alright, here's the plan," I said. "You lot are going to storm in, taking out as many as you can, but _stay away from the force field,_ got it? Peeta and I will focus on that switch, and if that doesn't work, I'll destroy the force field. Beware if I have to do that, as it makes a rather large explosion, as I'm sure those of you who watched the end of the Quell will know." Who was I kidding? They had all watched the Quell. "Spread out now, and I'll send the signal."

They all nodded and moved to other streets. It was a tribute to how dire the situation was that none of them opposed my flimsy plan. Well, almost none of them.

"What about me?" asked Gale.

"You stay here," I said. "I don't want you, erm, hurting yourself."

"You're just afraid I'll hurt Peeta," he stated. I didn't answer. "Don't worry, I've lasted this long, right?"

I shook my head.

"Yeah, but we haven't actually done any fighting… I don't want you doing anything you'll regret."

"Katniss, I'll be fine," He said. I didn't believe him. "Look, I'm going to go whether you tell me to or not, got it? So drop it." I groaned and turned away from him, walking over to Peeta.

"They're ready," he said. I groaned again.

"I can't believe I'm making them do this," I said. "Some of them are going to die, no matter how unprepared the Peacekeepers are. I'm just a girl from district Twelve, I'm not an army commander!"

"You're right Katniss," said Peeta, "You are a girl from District Twelve." I glanced up, having been expecting something a little more encouraging. But then Peeta smiled. "You're a girl from District Twelve, and that's what makes you so special."

I grinned at him, then took a deep breath, and grabbed the bow and arrows I had found in the weapons tent. I almost felt like some-one knew I would be doing this; the arrows were the same as the special ones Beetee had given me; one third fire, one third explosive, one third normal. It was an explosive arrow that I grabbed.

"Ready?" I asked. I heard soft affirmations from everyone, and I turned towards the square. "President Snow," I muttered, pulling on the string of my bow, "Get ready to face the flames." Then I let fly.

The arrow soared into the sky before turning in the air and shooting back down, landing in the square with a huge explosion disproportionate to the size of the arrow. The peacekeepers yelled and scattered as the air erupted in flames, ending their celebrations. As soon as the smoke had cleared, I caught a glimpse of the rebels, safe in their force field, looking around with hope. Then we charged.

The air was thick with gunfire as the people of the Districts let loose their anger at the Capitol. Peeta and I ducked under it all, running towards the spot where we'd seen the Peacekeeper activate the force field before. Sure enough, there was a small post with a small switch and a large red button on it.

"Well," said Peeta. "That was easy." Then he moved to hit the button.

I frowned - something wasn't right.

I was sure that I had seen that peacekeeper flick a switch, not push a button.

Peeta's hand was directly over the button when I saw it. A peacekeeper nudged another and gestured to Peeta. When the second one saw what Peeta was about to do, his eyes widened and the two of them ran away as fast as they could. At first you would think that would be because we were about to let the rebels out, but they were running _towards_ the force field, and their expressions said that they were just running away, no matter the direction. Then it clicked.

I jumped forward and shoved Peeta's hand out of the way before flicking the small switch.

"Why did you do that?" asked Peeta.

"That was a self destruct button, it must have been," I gasped. Peeta's eyes widened and he took a step back from the button.

"How did you know that-"

"They're out It worked!" There was a large cheer and then the noise level rose as more guns joined the battle.

The rebels were back in the war.

* * *

**I know, as I said before, It's messy, and a little unrealistic, but I didn't want this to turn out as just a copy of Mockingjay like it looked like it was going to be. So, I changed my plan a little, but not by much. Ah well.**


	25. No

**Soooo sorry about the wait! What is this, a month? Mid-year exams are on the way so I'm a little bit stretched right now... They'll be gone the three weeks... -shudder- but sorry again! Believe me, I know how annoying it is waiting for updates. But this is nearly finished now, so bare with me... just a couple more chapters to go!**

**Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. The. Hunger. Games. Just. The. Stuff. You. Don't. Recognize. Don't you hate it when your brain stops at every period? I do. =P**

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**Chapter 25**

No

What on earth did she mean we'd 'acted irresponsibly'? We'd gotten them out, hadn't we? We'd stopped the Capitol winning this war once and for all, hadn't we? And this was the thanks we got? I told the woman standing in front of me just that.

President Alma Coin's eyes narrowed.

"You risked the life of every single person you brought here. Everyone could have died! They are untrained and have no experience with weapons and war what so ever. If you had had the slightest bit more resistance, all of them would have been killed. Then where would we be? Almost every male from every district was out there – the human population would be decimated! You would have sentenced our race to extinction. Not to mention how many lives would be lost…"

"If we hadn't helped, we would have lost the entire-" I stopped when Peeta glared at me, but Coin knew what I had been about to say.

"It doesn't matter what could have happened, only what did." I was about to call her a hypocrite and remind her that I had said 'would' and she had said 'could', but she kept talking. "You will no longer participate in any military action. Consider the deal off. You are no longer our Mockingjay."

"What?" I exclaimed. I almost expected Peeta to glare at me again, but his eyes were fixed on Coin.

"You can't take the Mockingjay away from her," he snarled.

"I think you'll find I can."

"No, you can't. The Mockingjay isn't just a title, it's a place. And I don't mean a place in an army; I mean a place in a person's heart. The Mockingjay has buried into the heart and soul of every person in Panem, and it doesn't matter if the person is a child from a poor district or a peacekeeper, or if it brings them fear, joy or hope, it is there, and a simple command from you will not remove it. It doesn't matter what you do, Katniss will always be the Mockingjay."

"That may be so," said Coin, "But I can now claim that you disobeyed my orders to remain in District 13 and that means that the deal is off. You two, Gale Hawthorne, Finnick Odair and all the other Victors no longer have our protection."

"No," I whispered, an image of Annie and Finnick blazing into my mind, "No, you can't."

"Once again, Katniss, I think you'll find I can."

"And how do you think the populace will react," spat Peeta in a last ditch attempt. "How much support do you think you'll have after you've called off the treaty and killed off not only all the remaining Victors, but the Mockingjay? It doesn't matter how many 'accidents' you arrange, all the Victors dying is a bit of a coincidence, don't you think?"

"The people won't mind," she hissed, although I could hear a little defeat in her voice. "The Victors are a liability. Anyone can see that."

"I think that is what the Capitol believes, as there seems to be much fewer Victors now than there was even at the end of the Quell. We're being killed off. You're fighting to end the Hunger Games, right? How will it look if you kill the people that had to live through them?"

Coin's face glowed bright red, then, with a glare at us, told us that she would not call the deal off if we behaved, but that if we made one tiny little mistake, that was it. She couldn't afford to give us any more chances.

"You will stay in the food tent until you are told otherwise by me or a message from me. You will not leave the tent. You will not talk to anyone outside the tent unless they are myself or a messenger from me. You will not touch the food unless it is given to you. You will sit still. You will keep quiet. Do you understand?"

We nodded, defeated yet happy at the same time. We had escaped severe punishment, but we were going to miss out on the main action.

But that would have happened anyway if we hadn't come.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked away from her, back towards the gates of the Capitol. I felt destroyed. What could we do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was the Mockingjay, shouldn't I have a job to do?

Oh yes, of course. My job was to sit tight in the food tent. How enjoyable.

When we got to the tent, I found my self grateful - for the first time ever - that the food during a war isn't brilliant. It's not disgusting, so the smell wafting from the cooking tent next door didn't smell bad, but it wasn't nice enough to make me hungry.

"Well, this is great," Peeta said after five minutes of silence.

"Just how I imagined myself spending the war," I muttered. "Sitting on a can of tinned beef. Kind of ironic, don't you think? This time two years ago I would have given anything to be sitting on this thing, but now…"

"Shhh!" hushed a young boy as he grabbed a cabbage from next to me. "No talking."

"Sure takes his job seriously," I muttered as he ran back to the other side of the tent.

"If we can't talk, do you think we could yell?" asked Peeta.

Perhaps two hours later, we could hear a commotion going on outside the tent. We both tried to move to the door, but were stopped by the boy as he came to get some salt. So, we sat back down on the ground – the cans of beef had been taken out to the kitchens a while before – and strained our ears to their limits, trying to hear what was going on. We didn't have to wait long though, as we soon heard Coin's voice right outside our tent.

"I don't care what you think, we don't need them!"

"So you don't think the people will wonder what happened to their Mockingjay? What happened to Peeta? They know they got out of the square alive, because people saw them coming here." I shuddered, thinking Paylor and Coin were arguing about whether or not Coin should do what she threatened and kill us, but then Paylor's next words silenced that fear. "They need to be there."

"No, they don't. For all we know, they could ruin the whole thing! What if the Capitol citizens that are there start to whimper, and those two get all sympathetic? What then? Who do you think the people will listen to? Me or them? The president of the rebels or the two people that survived the Hunger Games not once, but twice? I think we both know the answer to that."

"They have to be there! Katniss and Peeta have been the face of the rebellion! Wouldn't just be fitting to have them end the war?"

I was confused, and one glance at Peeta showed me that he was too. What were they talking about? Was the war over? It couldn't be… the rebels were all trapped in a force field less than three hours ago... how could they have bounced back so quickly? And why was Paylor arguing with Coin? The only other person I had ever seen arguing with her was Boggs, when Gale was put into our training group. He was really angry then too, and had lost control of his better judgement. Yet Paylor sounded in control, like she knew what she was doing, like she knew she would win the argument…

Something must have changed, and I had to know what.

"Fine. Let them be there. But if they mess this up, I will destroy them all."

"I'd watch it if I were you," said Paylor. "That's the sort of thing that got you into this mess in the first place."

"No," said Coin. "It wasn't my threat; it was my inability to carry it out."

I glanced at Peeta to see him looking at me questioningly. What had happened? I no longer thought that Paylor had the upper hand; I knew. Coin was in trouble, and Paylor knew it. But what sort of trouble? It sounded like she'd been having problems with her authority or something, but that couldn't be right, could it?

"Whatever you say," muttered Paylor, "But I suggest you tell them first."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'll tell them when I see fit."

I turned my attention back to the outside of the tent, trying to figure out what Coin was - or was not – going to tell us, but a few moments later, the flap was pushed aside and in walked Alma Coin herself.

"You two, out."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Quiet! You'll find out in good time. Now follow me, stay silent and don't try anything."

We followed Coin out of the camp, through the Capitol and back to the square. We then entered a large house that I had a feeling I had been inside of before. Then I recognised it. President Snow's house.

Maybe the war really was over.

I forced myself not to believe it. No need to give me any false hope. Maybe Snow had fled somewhere else…

We kept on walking and Coin led us through several vast hallways and rooms before stopping in a small sitting room and motioning for us to sit down.

We did as we were told.

When we were seated, Coin began to speak.

"Now. As I am sure you have began to realize, the Capitol is defeated, the rebels have won, and the war is over."

I stared at her.

I didn't move.

I didn't speak.

How could this have happened? It was a full out battle just an hour or so ago, and now…

I know I had been thinking it not minutes before, but just the way she told us… just throwing it into casual conversation…

I was just waiting for her to say "just kidding!" and then tell us we had to film some more propos.

But Coin never joked.

"It's… it's over?" asked Peeta, finding his voice before I did. "It's finished."

"I believe I just said that. Now then, to business. President Snow is going to give a formal surrender tonight, and we will announce the end of the war and rebel victory. Then, he will be executed at dawn, to symbolize the rising of a new nation. You will be the one to silence him Katniss, with a bow and arrow of course. More symbolism. The more we throw out there, the more the people will eat it up, make them readier to follow us…"

She kept talking, but, although she was talking about the future of Panem, I didn't listen. The way she spoke about the future was unsettling. She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, like this is how it was going to be and no-one could change it or take it away from her. I shook my head, trying to listen again. A lifetime of listening to Snow, and after two years of knowing what was really going through his mind, my brain had started to look for things in the words of a President that I thought should be there, but weren't. Not all Presidents were like Snow, and Coin was as different from Snow as you could get.

Or at least, that's what I told myself.

~~0~~

"People of Panem! Rebels, Districts and Citizens! I come before you today to share wonderful news! The war between the Capitol and the rest of this nation is over!" Coins words were met with a thunderous round of applause that seemed to go on forever.

I frowned, and tuned everything out, instead gazing around at the crowd. Panem. Almost every person from every District had come out from their homes – or from the large tent that many were still living in – to watch the surrender, and would be staying through the night so they witness the long awaited and much deserved death of President Coriolanus Snow by the hands of their Mockingjay. Me.

Yes, I was the one to kill Snow. I had gotten my final demand after all.

I sighed and looked away from the crowd, instead turning my gaze onto Peeta, the boy with the bread, and the person that I loved the most in this world. Yes, I love Peeta Mellark. I had said it before, but I had never felt it a strongly as I had in that moment. Seeing Peeta standing there, looking just as lost as I felt, made my heart freeze for a moment. Snow could never hurt Peeta again because of me.

Feeling my gaze on him, Peeta turned to me and smiled. Then he looked back at Coin.

I figured I should probably be watching her as well – she and Snow had just finished the surrender, and she was now talking about the future of the new Panem – but I couldn't bring myself to listen. The way spoke still sent shivers down my spine. I had seen Coin do some pretty terrible things, after all…

But I also knew something else. Nothing that Coin had ever done, nothing that she would do in the future could possibly make her as bad as Snow.

Then, she said the words that would change my view of her forever.

"… a new Hunger Games! It will be with Capitol children, so they can understand the pain they put us through all these years. They will be reaped, they will be made to fight, and they will suffer for what they have done."

I heard it. Peeta heard it. Finnick, Johanna, Beetee, Annie and Haymitch, standing off to the side a little heard it. The whole nation heard it.

Some cheered, those people that wanted the Capitol to pay at any cost. But they were few, and they soon realized the magnitude of what was happening.

Because it wasn't just the Hunger Games Coin had threatened - no, promised - to bring back with those words. It was the entire Capitol mindset.

The whole nation heard it, and they all understood.

They also hear my protest, as quiet as it was. They all heard it, because they knew that it was coming.

"No." My voice reverberated through the silence, uttering the one word that everyone in Panem was thinking at the same time.

"Excuse me?" asked Coin. Her voice was cheerful, but I heard the strain underneath, and I saw her eyes narrow dangerously.

"I said no."

"No what? No, they won't suffer enough, I need to make the Hunger Games even worse than they were for us?" She glanced back at the crowd as if she expected a response, but everyone was holding their breaths.

"I mean no. There will not be another Hunger Games."

"Well, why ever not? These people-" Coin gestured to the Capitol citizens huddled slightly away from the main crowd "- need to understand the pain that they have made us suffer. They need to realize what they have done before they can become a part of our society again!"

"What do you even mean?" I asked. "Do you even know what you are saying? And what do you mean, _us_?"

"Us, the people the Capitol forced to endure the Hunger Games while-"

"You never had to endure the Hunger Games," I said, my voice deadly. "Never. You may have watched them, you may have felt a little sad when a twelve year old girl was run through with a sword, or when a fourteen year old boy a ripped apart by mutts. You may have said 'what a pity,' and thought of how their life had been so cruelly cut short, but just for a moment. Then, you would mark them down as another death cause by the Capitol, another thing you could use to get the people of the Districts to fight by your side. You never once understood what it was like for the people waiting at home, watching their child either be ripped to shreds or turn into a monster and kill innocent children. You don't know how horrifying it is to _hope_ that your children or family or friends turn into monsters, or to want another person's child or sister or brother dead. You may have lost friends to war, but you could get revenge You could plan something. But you don't know what it's like to be forced to sit there and do nothing, and then, in six months time, congratulate the person who survived the thing that killed your child. You don't know what that is like, and I don't think I would wish it on _anyone_. Not even President Snow. Because that would make me a monster like him, and that is something that will never come to pass. So when I say no, I mean no. I mean there will be no more Hunger Games. Not a single one. So what if these people don't understand? They understand loss. Many of them lost family in this fight. And it wasn't them that invented the Games, so why should they pay for it? If we were brought up in the same environment that they were, we would feel the same way they do. I say no, and I mean _no._"

I hadn't realized I had moved, but at the end of my little rant I found myself standing towards the front of the stage glaring a Coin as if she _were_ Snow. And she very nearly was.

It took me a moment to realize Peeta was at my side. Then he grabbed my hand. Then someone grabbed my other hand. I turned around and saw Haymitch. In his other hand he was hanging onto Beetee. All of us were connected, all the remaining Victors. Even Enobaria, who had been one of the ones that had cheered at Coins suggestion, was holding onto Beetee's right hand, glaring at Snow. I was instantly reminded of the begining of the Quell, when all the Victors presented a unified front for the first time.

Coin took a step back from us. Then what could only be described as a growl rose in her throat and she turned back to the people.

"Katniss makes a fair point. We are not the Capitol. But that is exactly why I have made my decision. These people, these _Capitol citizens_, they can't fit in with the rest of us. If I were Snow, I would kill them all right now. But I am not Snow, and I will not kill them. We have to make them like us."

I rose my eyebrow at her continued use of the word 'us', but Coin ignored me. Her audience, however, did not. They were beginning to grow restless; they knew that what I had said was a very good point, and they believed that what Coin was saying was not enough to dispute it.

"We have been oppressed for decades. If they are to understand, they must be too. They will have their Hunger Games for as long as I see fit, and then they will be given equal rights and be just like the rest of us!"

"I've always wondered," I said, "What the original president of Panem said right after the Dark Days. I don't have to anymore, though. I reckon it would have been pretty similar to what you said just now."

"How dare you!"

"It's true," said Finnick, speaking up for the first time. "Hunger Games, 'till I see fit, _then_ they can have 'equal' rights… Yeah, I think I see the similarities."

"You see," I continued, "You're becoming the new Snow. This is still the old Panem. The only thing that has changed is that you've swapped the people around. The situation is still the same, only now, the Capitol citizens have become the people of the Districts and the people of the Districts have become Capitol citizens. Look at it from outside the box. You know that it is true."

Coin's eyes widened for a moment, then she shook her head.

"I knew it would come to this," she growled, too low for the microphones to pick up. "You want to be in control. Well, to bad, Katniss Everdeen. You'll never win."

"Oh no," I laughed once without humor. "You've got that bit wrong. I don't want to be President. I just want some-one in charge that will run this country fairly."

The whole city seemed to gasp at the same time. It was the first time I had disputed Coin's authority with words; I had done it before subtly, but this was the first time in front of so many people and so directly.

"I'm not saying I don't want you to be in charge," I quickly covered, "Just that I think you need to work on your plans a little."

Coin seemed to be at breaking point, so I quickly moved away from her and turned towards the crowd again.

"People," I called. "You have all seen what Snow's government, as well as the governments before it, have done to our home. You have seen the horrors, the misery. I want you to ask yourself. Do you really want this to happen again?"

I didn't really expect a response, but they answered me.

"_No!_"

"Do you want another dictatorship, like Snows, to rule Panem, even if you are on the better end of the stick this time?"

"_No!_"

"Then let me ask you one more thing. Do you want another Hunger Games?"

There was a collective pause, and then;

"_NO!_"

"Then let that be on your mind, President, when you remake your decision," I spat. "It may have been lost in time, but I thought the word _President_ meant democracy. The Capitol hid that word from us, but I learnt it back in those real history classes in Thirteen. Do you want to be a President, or a Dictator? If it is the former, I would listen to their decision."

Then, I turned my back on President Coin, and walked away from the stage, wondering what would happen in the morning. It was to be Snow's execution, but had what I said changed anything? I liked to think that it had, but there was that nagging doubt in the back of my mind…

I still wanted him to die, definitely. It was because of him that I no longer had a sister. Because of him that Gale was a wreck, and would never go back to his former self. It was because of him that my mother was all but dead to the world. Because of him that Rue's life had been cut so short. Because of him that hundreds of families still mourned their lost children…

He definitely deserved to die. But did that make me like him? No, I wouldn't be killing a human being. He was about as far from humanity as a person could get.

But after what I had seen today, with the leader of the rebels wanting to follow in Snow's footsteps, I wondered if evil really was human nature. Maybe all that stuff about compassion and kindness was all just a story made up so that people could sleep at ease.

I thought about all the things _I_ had done. All the people I had killed. Glimmer, Marvel, Cato, Gloss… even Peeta had killed…

But Peeta only ever killed when he couldn't help it. He killed in the first Games to protect me. He killed Foxface by accident, and I could tell he was sad about it afterward. He only ever killed on purpose when he was saving some-one's life…

The thought of Peeta soothed my mind. He was _good_. There was no other word for it. He was kind, even to those who didn't deserve it. He was thoughtful and compassionate. Just as a person should be.

It's people like President Snow that have stained the rest of us. I wouldn't have killed if he hadn't forced me to. The war wouldn't have happened if he hadn't provoked the rebels. And this would never have happened in the first place if the black person that thought up the Hunger Games had kept his ideas and darkness to himself.

It was Snow that started all this, and he definitely deserves to die, if only to stop his infection from spreading across the world like a cancer.

But if that is the case, then why do I still have a nagging doubt at the back of my head?

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**Okay, once again, didn't mean for it to be a cliffhanger, only noticed when I reread it... But you guys can probably guess anyway. It wasn't that long ago that I could swear you reviewers could read my mind... **


	26. Accusations

**Quick everyone, look; she's updating! Grab a camera! Sorry, writers block, couldn't figure out how to start, even though I had a plan. But this just hit me, and it flew on from there. Oh, and just so you know; nearly done! Just the epilogue to go now!**

**By the way, this chapter may be a little OOC, Snow especially. I don't really know how he would speak, so sorry if that bit is a little wrong. **

**Disclaimer: The Hunger Games isn't mine**.** I don't own the evilness that is Alma Coin (you think I'm that good? Aww, thanks... =P) or the awesomeness that is the other characters, either. **

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**Chapter 26**

Accusations

"Alright, I can't take this anymore!" cried Johanna. "This sitting and doing nothing. We have to do something! Coin can't get away with this!"

"What are you going to do?" sneered Enobaria. "We can't just waltz up and demand that she stop her little scheme. Look where that got Katniss."

They all glanced over to me.

I ignored them. I was hardly aware that they were even there. I could hear their voices, and I could see them, but that was all. I was vaguely aware of Peeta's arms around me, and his soothing words in my ear, but they, along with Johanna's and Enobaria's words, didn't stick in my mind and just faded into oblivion.

I had killed my best friend. Even more than before. This time, he really was going to die, because I couldn't just let Coin do what she wanted. But I also knew that this is what he would have wanted… maybe still what he did want.

"She can't do that to me; there is no-one she can use against me. Besides, I'm not as weak as her."

"Hey, leave Katniss alone! She's been through a lot today and-"

"Well, what should we do, then, Peeta? Do you want Coin to start up the Hunger Games all over again? Ruin everything we have been fighting for? Or do you want to actually do something about it? People have _died_ in this war. Do you really want their sacrifice to go to waste?"

"No, and that isn't what I was saying. I was just asking you to lay off for a bit!"

I kept on staring at nothing. What was there to look at? Coin was toppling my world… First Snow, now Coin…

But no. Snow toppled my world a long time ago. Coin was just stopping me from rebuilding it. The only thing I could do was start anew. That's what Gale would want me to do…

"We have to stop her," I whispered. The others, who had now begun talking again, stopped and stared at me. "We can't let this go on. Other people may know what it is like to loose a child or a friend to the Games, but we are the only ones who know what it is _really_ like. We can't let anyone else go through that. Not _one single child_. No matter where they come from, or what they believe."

"That's what I was trying to say," said Johanna.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Finnick.

Haymitch was about to respond, probably to say something extremely reasonable like 'there are cameras in here' or 'you'll never be able to beat her that way, be more strategic and subtle and political' but he never got the words out. For that moment, a large explosion rocked the building.

We all dashed for cover, but it didn't take us long to realize that the explosion was coming from outside. When we did, we all ran to the window.

"Stop!" yelled Haymitch. "There could be a battle going on out there!"

"Then we should help!" Finnick replied.

"What if thy shoot at the windows?"

"If there really is a battle, then won't they be concentrating on saving their life rather than looking at windows?" Johanna pointed out.

"Fine," Haymitch relented, "But I will look, as I am the oldest and most useless and most dispensable."

Ignoring Peeta's and my protests about Haymitch being useless, he walked to the window, and peeked through the glass. Then he gasped.

"Well, there isn't a battle…" His voice sounded dead. Almost as if what he was seeing was just so terrible that he couldn't believe it. Slowly, we all moved forward to see for ourselves.

I froze.

I thought the war was over.

Who would do this? Who?

And then the answer registered in my mind.

Snow.

He was the only person in the entire world that I could conceive doing such a horrible deed.

After the argument between Coin and I in front of the entire nation, she had the rebels organize all of the people into the houses in the area around the square, several families to a house. It was only temporary, just so that the people were able to stay and watch the execution in the morning. The people would go back home after that.

However, the injured and the sick were to stay in the square for treatment. If they had children, then the kids would stay in a small tent to the side of the square. Due to the close quarters people were forced to stay in during the last few days of the war, many people were sick. Some with illness, and some with starvation, having given their rations to their children. As a result, there were many kids staying in the tent, which had turned into some sort of playground. During the evening, laughter had softly emanated from it, until they had all finally gone to sleep. To young to understand about the war, or old enough to know the war was over, to them this seemed like a fun sleepover.

Not so much now though.

Because the tent was gone.

Where it used to be, there was only a crater ad a pile of ash.

As we stood, frozen with horror, the wailing started.

Without uttering a word, we all moved away from the window and headed back down to the square to see what we could do.

The next few hours were horrible. The sound of keening mothers reached down into the very core of our bodies, freezing our souls and chasing away any glimmer of hope the end of the war had brought.

We walked around, helping where we could, knowing that no effort we made could possibly comfort these people. They had lost their children, right when we should have been safe and victorious.

Beetee was muttering something about the blast, about how it must have been very controlled and concentrated to destroy the kid's tent so completely with only a tiny amount of damage done to the hospital tent. At first I couldn't believe he could be so cold, thinking of something like that at a time like this. But then I realized that I was the same. I was thinking about and listening to Beetee for the same reason that he was muttering about the blast. To keep the horrible realization that a human being could do something this terrible at bay. It was impossible to accept, because if we did, we would have to admit to being a part of the same species as the monster that did this. And that was enough to crush anybody, even if we had never set eyes on the person responsible.

After a while – I am not sure how long, as the numbness took over, but it was still dark – Coin's voice rang out over the square through the megaphone she was holding.

"This is a terrible tragedy, and all the worse for hitting us when we should be safe and celebrating our victory," she started. "I know that there is nothing I can do to console you, so I am not going to try." This may have sounded cold, but in reality, it was true. There was no point in trying, so why waste time? "I would, however, like to announce that we have caught the monster responsible for this horror."

She had everybody's attention now.

"It was a peacekeeper. When President Snow realized that we were storming the Capitol, he ordered the force field to be activated, and the trap to be set. We fell for that, but came out of it alive. Although Snow thought that it would have been impossible for us to escape, he made a plan, just in case. He told this peacekeeper that if the Capitol were taken and all was lost, he was to use the self-destruct button on the controls for the force field to be activated. This is what that peacekeeper did, and, unfortunately, the pole upon which the button rested was located right next to the tent."

"Of course, that makes sense," Beetee was muttering, "The self destruct button would have been concentrated in order to only destroy the person pressing it and those in the immediate area, so that if Capitol citizens were near they wouldn't be injured… and of course Snow wouldn't want his house, which is so near, destroyed…" I tuned him out.

However, listening to Beetee's ramblings caused a turmoil in my mind. Because, at that point, my mind was in denial mode. The denial was so strong, working to deny the fact that this was happening, that I tried to deny anything that I heard. So, to my mind, Coin's explanation did not make sense.

Because, for starters, what did Snow have to gain? Yes, the explosion was controlled, very controlled in fact, so he must have known that it wouldn't destroy anything important. He had no way of knowing that he would even harm anyone. And it didn't match his style. Snow was sneaky and careful; this plan was obviously quickly thought of and rushed. And if Snow thought there was even the tiniest possibility that the rebels could escape the force field, why were the peacekeepers so relaxed? And why wait until after everything ended? Why not detonate the bomb when he still had a chance of winning the war? And if he had time to set the plan in place, why didn't he just place anther, more destructive bomb?

No, it didn't make sense at all. There was something else going on here, but I didn't know what.

I glanced around, but no-one else seemed to make anything of it. Then I caught Haymitch's eye, and saw him frowning. But then he shrugged and headed back to the house, unable to deal with the horror anymore. I sighed, grabbed Peeta's hand, and followed him.

I knew that our talk of ending the Hunger Games was over, for now at least. Everyone was a little overwhelmed.

It seemed like a rather large coincidence to me.

~~0~~

"Coriolanus Snow," said Coin, her voice ringing out across the square. I doubted she even needed the megaphone; she just had one of those voices that carried through the air. "You have been accused, and found guilty of crimes of the most heinous nature. These include political sabotage, murder…"

She continued on for a while, listing all the things that Snow had done wrong. Some of them were serious, some of them ridiculous – things a normal person would not even get a fine or a warning for - and I was sure Coin had only added them to make the list longer and more impressive. No one was complaining though; we all believed that no punishment would be too great for Snow, especially after last night.

However, I still wasn't so sure about that. It didn't make any sense. And the more Coin talked, the more I grew sure.

"…and lastly, the unprovoked murder of twenty-seven innocent children." I was sure she had mentioned murder at least three times before in her list, but wasn't about to question it.

I thought back to last night, and the revelations I had had. I didn't sleep at all afterward; I just lay there in Peeta's arms, thinking. I didn't want to sleep anyway. I was sure I would have nightmares. Peeta did.

But back to the subject at hand. Those kids… It just _didn't make any sense_, no matter what angle you looked at it. Snow had nothing to gain. He didn't even know he could have had something to gain.

"For these crimes the new government of Panem has decreed that you shall be executed at the hands of our Mockingjay."

I wasn't paying attention as I was ushered forward to where Snow was tied to a post. I wasn't paying attention as Coin gave the order for me to prepare to fire. I was lost in my thoughts.

Because I was right; that explosion did nothing for Snow; and Snow was not dumb, he would have known it would not help his case. All it served to do – apart from killing innocent children and destroying the lives of their parents – was to make the people of Panem hate him even more. Why, only yesterday Coin was being ridiculed and compared to Snow for wanting to reintroduce the Hunger Games. But now everyone was standing behind her, united in their hate for Snow…

I raised my bow, nocked an arrow, pulled the string and aimed it at Snow's heart. Still not paying attention. Still not thinking about my actions.

Because in that moment, something clicked into place in my brain.

Snow had nothing to gain. He had no motive. But somebody else did.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered the fact that Coin had ordered me to fire. But I didn't. Because I still wasn't paying attention. Everything had become clear.

The way everything played out was too perfect. Way to perfect.

Everyone had united behind Coin in her accusation against Snow, lost in a rage about the children's deaths, not being able to think logically.

Because of this rage, everyone wanted to hurt Snow, and in turn the Capitol, in any way they could. Which, in turn, meant that they would no longer fight against the reintroduction of the Hunger Games.

Everyone hated Snow even more.

Everyone would think that my claim about the Capitol being just like us was wrong. Because no one would think themselves capable of something that terrible.

But hadn't I been thinking, only last night about how similar Coin was to Snow?

I knew she was capable of this sort of thing. I couldn't stop thinking about what she had promised to do to Gale after our argument on the stage yesterday…

But hadn't that explosion happened just I began to think about fighting against her anyway, despite what she would do to Gale? Weren't we all talking about it? I had thought there might have been cameras – or at least a microphone - in that room…

And then afterward, all of us Victors were so horrified by the explosion that we had forgot all about stopping Coin…

And now I think about it, she had been the one to suggest the camp in the square. She was the one who laid out the position of the tents. Hadn't Peeta and I told her about the self-destruct button on the post, hadn't we warned her to stay away from it? And yet, she positioned that tent so that it was almost on top of that pole.

It wouldn't have been hard to convince the peacekeeper to follow the story. From what I'd heard, he was an officer - a high-ranking official. He would have been executed anyway. But Coin could have promised protection for his family…

Yes, it was perfect. Too perfect.

Coin had the motive.

Coin had the means.

Coin was the one that gained in every single way possible.

And Coin was the one shouting at me now, ordering me to fire an arrow into the one man that could offer proof – no matter how dubious – that my theory was correct.

Finally, I reopened my mind to the world and took in what was happening.

There I was, standing on the stage, my arrow aimed and Snow. The one person I wanted dead more than any other.

But did I?

Who was worse; the monster who knew what he was, or the one that tried to pretend to be otherwise?

I had been standing still for a while, and the people were getting restless.

"Katniss, fire now, or I will do it for you! We need to keep the support of the people, and we won't be able to if we hesitate!"

I lowered my bow, put the lone arrow back in my quiver, and took a step back. Coin's eyes widened, and Snow's shined with relief, and little bit of smugness.

"Gone soft, have you?" he smirked, sounding a lot braver than he looked with his face shining with sweat.

I ignored him, and turned to Coin.

"What are you doing?" she hissed as the murmuring of the crowd grew in volume. "Get your arrow back out now! Or have you forgotten our arrangement from yesterday?"

Oh no, I hadn't forgotten. If I was a good girl and followed the plan, she would give Gale a pardon. If I did anything wrong, she would fight tooth and nail to make sure that he didn't get a fair trial and was sentenced to death. That had killed me. I had known I shouldn't have let him enter the square and join the fight. I had known he'd end up doing something he'd regret. But I hadn't stopped him.

I shook my head. If I had my way, Coin would no longer be the one with power to do anything to Gale.

I took another step toward her, another step away from Snow.

"Fire!" she hissed again. "Kill him, for goodness sakes, end this now! Or it shall be you tied to that post!"

"No," I said quietly. "I will not stand by and let you deal out injustice where it does not belong." My voice may have been soft, but it carried. There was much muttering in the square after my words. I expected people to cry out, wanting to know why I didn't think Snow was evil – as I was sure that was what it sounded like – but they didn't. They waited for me to say more.

This surprised me. Until now, I had never really understood how much power I held.

"What are you saying?" asked Coin. "Are to trying to imply that I am the evil one here? That I should be tied to that post?"

"Yes and no," I said. There was a collective gasp, and Coin began to order my arrest, but I held up my hand and kept talking. "You will listen to what I have to say," I ordered. "You will listen, and so will everybody else. Then you can place the blame where it belongs, and decide what is best for this nation." I spoke the last part to the people. They all looked shocked and confused. I could hardly blame them. Then I turned back to Coin. "After that, you can do with me as you wish."

Peeta moved forward to try and stop me, but I stopped him with a look. Then I began.

"I know what this man has done," I said, gesturing to Snow. "And I know that for his crimes he deserves to die. But before I end his life, I would like to set some things straight. First of all, the things we are accusing him of. We all know what Snow is capable of. We know from Finnick's testimonies that he indeed sabotaged and corrupted the government. We know that he has killed people to get their loved ones to cooperate with his plans. We know that he has been ruthless with the Hunger Games. Yes, we all know what Snow is capable off. But there is one accusation made against him that I would like to question." I paused, looked around. Everyone was curious now, especially the Victors standing behind me. I sighed, and then spoke the words that had fallen from Coins mouth not long before. "The accusation that he was the cause of the unprovoked murder of twenty-seven innocent children."

Those words caused an explosion of their own.

Every single person began yelling, shouting things such as '_have you lost your mind?'_ or '_what are you playing at?_' Then there were the people yelling obscene things about me, and the people that claimed I should be admitted into a mental institution. I grabbed the megaphone out of Coin's shocked hands, and yelled into it, causing everyone to be shocked into silence.

"Please, let me finish!" I called. "I need you to understand."

Everyone was silent, and stared at me with angry eyes. Even some of the Victors were glaring at me, however Finnick and Peeta merely looked shocked, while Haymitch was looking at me appreciatively.

"Fist of all, I want you all to think about what happened. I am sorry, I know you don't want to, but please, try. I want you to think about what Snow had to gain from this. I'll tell you what: nothing. He had nothing to gain. We all know that Snow is smart, cunning. He would never do anything unless he gained from it. And he only lost from this explosion. I want you to ask yourself, what did we all do? What were we thinking? We were all thinking that we hated Snow more than ever. We were all united in our rage. He would have known that this would happen. Now, I want you to think, and I want you to think as objectively as you can. I want you to open your mind to all possibilities. I want you to have an unbiased approach. Now, what I want you to do is think about this; who did gain from this tragedy? Who did something out of this? Because there is a person who gained. I know the situation is horrible, and it seems like there was only loss, but someone did get what they wanted. And that someone is standing right next to me."

Comprehensions flickered across their faces. I could see that many people understood what I was saying, and I could see that they did not want to believe it. But the logic was working on them.

"This person knew that the post near that tent was a self destruct button. This person positioned the tent next to said button. This person only gained from the explosions; she gained support. Why would she do this, you might ask? Remember yesterday? Remember how no one wanted to follow her plans? Well, who argued with her after that explosion?"

I paused, waiting for it to sink in. Then I looked over at President Snow.

"Do you have any idea what I am talking about?" I asked. He looked surprised at being spoken to but answered carefully.

"Not really. At first, when you said twenty-seven, I thought you had spoken wrong, and meant to say twenty-three. But even that wouldn't be right, I've presided over more than one Games. All I can gather from your words is that there was some sort of explosion that killed some children… I guess that is the reason for the crater in my square?"

When Snow stopped speaking, the people were stunned into silence. Then…

"Well, of course he's lying," came a voice from the crowd. There were mutters of agreement.

"Is he really?" I asked. "What does he have to gain? He knows he will die whatever he says, and if he did do it, why wouldn't he want the credit?"

"Don't expect us to understand how this snake's mind works," spat a different voice.

"President Coin," I said pleasantly. What is your take on this?"

The whole time I had been talking, Coin had been silent, shocked. She clearly hadn't expected anyone to realize this. But when I addressed her, she turned angry.

"What do you think?" she spat. "That I will just announce that I killed those children in front of the whole of Panem? Have you lost your mind?"

"So you did kill them then?" I asked, a smug smile making it's way onto my face. She had pretty much just announced her guilt.

There was silence, absolute silence, for about five seconds. And in her silence, the truth finally dawned upon everyone standing in the square. Once she got her wits back, Coin spoke again.

"Preposterous!" She cried. "How could you accuse me of such a thing?"

"You accused Snow of this," I said.

"Exactly! Snow! We all know what he is capable of! Do you really think that I, leader of the rebels, who has been fighting against this would do such a thing! Arrest her!" She gestured to the soldiers standing near the stage, but they looked at her with disgust. They believed me. I felt my spirits rise a little.

"Yes, we all know what Snow is capable of," I said. "And it was only yesterday that we pointed out that you are capable of the same."

"What! You know that I-"

"Every crime that you accused Snow of," I said, raising my voice over hers, "you have also committed, or plan on committing."

"How can you-"

"You have manipulated people through the use of their loved ones."

"I never-"

"You did," said a soldier. "Or what did you mean when you said that if Katniss put one toe out of line, you would take away the protection you gave to Gale, Peeta and the other Victors?"

Coin gaped, and I smiled at the fact that a soldier I had never met before had the guts to join my fight.

"You have committed murder in order to gain power."

"And when have I ever-"

"Oh, just last night, I believe," said another soldier.

I continued on, with the increasing support of the people around me as they realized that what I was saying was true. Coin had done exactly what Snow had. She was exactly the same…

"And last, but most certainly not least, the Hunger Games. You may not have acted yet, but, unless my memory deceives me, you were going to. Or were you lying to the populace yesterday?"

Coin was spluttering, unable to speak as she realized that she could not win. The entire population of Panem had turned against her. She was on her own.

I would have expected there to have been turmoil, but everything was surprisingly quiet save for a bit of muttering going on between the commanders standing behind me, near the other Victors.

Slowly, Commander Paylor walked forward with two other soldiers. At her signal, they each grabbed one of Coin's arms.

"Alma Coin," she said in a loud voice. "You have been accused, and found guilty of crimes of the most heinous nature. These include political sabotage, murder…" She continued for a while, repeating the words that Coin had said earlier. "… and the unprovoked murder of twenty-seven innocent children."

She paused, and glance behind her. The others nodded. She took a deep breath, and with a short glance at me, said:

"For these crimes the new government of Panem has decreed that you shall be executed at the hands of our Mockingjay."

Someone handed me a second arrow.

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**So, what do you think? Was it okay?**


	27. EPILOGUE: Games

**And here it is! The final chapter! No more waiting for me to update, yay! **

**There is no dialogue in this, I just wanted to wrap it up a little. If there is something I missed, tell me and I'll add it, but I think I got everything. **

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**Epilogue**

Games

The war was over.

The people were free.

Both of the Presidents were dead.

A new era had begun.

Paylor became the new President of Panem.

All of the arenas have been destroyed, and monuments were built in their place, the names of the dead engraved upon them.

The Hunger Games were over, and they would never return.

Everyone went back to their homes. Well, almost everyone. My mother never recovered after Prim's death. The doctors said that it was all too much. She died a couple of months after the war ended, from starvation. She refused to eat. She gave up on life.

Her death hit me hard, but I was almost numb to the pain of death by now. It was a horrible feeling. Not even eighteen years old, and I had seen more death than anyone ever should. But it could have been worse. Much worse. I just kept on telling myself that it was okay... not everyone was dead... Loads of people survived, and no one else was going to die.

I managed to get Gale free. Technically, the Mockingjay deal was still in effect, so he was safe. I never really got the whole story of what he had done; apparently, he had gone a little wild during the fight, and tried to hook up what was left of the force field with some explosives and a pod that would have set off some sort of acid fountain had it been activated. He then tried to massacre everyone he saw, Capitol or Rebel, and fought against the rebels when they tried to restrain him, but because of the deal they couldn't hurt him... Yeah, I never got the full story, but I didn't really want to know.

He stayed in the Capitol for some time, trying to get a hold of himself again. It took a while, but he eventually managed it. He learnt to be a doctor, like Rory, and helped people. He said it made him feel better about all of the horrible things he had done. But he was never the same. My Gale never returned to me. And after all this time I still can't shake the fact that it was my fault, no matter how much Peeta tells me it wasn't.

Johanna decided to stay in District Thirteen. She said she didn't want to go home, because it had too many memories. I knew the feeling.

Finnick and Annie went back to District Four. They have a son now, who looks just like Finnick. They have managed to move on, and live happily.

I wasn't so lucky.

Haymitch, Peeta and I went back to District Twelve. It was awful going home, but not as bad as it had been that first time, right after the Quell. Because this time, I knew that it had all ended. That we were ready to start again.

Everybody helped with the clean up. We were forced to do some horrible things, including moving all of the dead, but it had to be done. And we managed.

We had to knock down the buildings that were too badly damaged – which was almost everything – and rebuild. We made District Twelve into a new place. A happier place. A place where children could grow up without the fear of being torn away from their family to compete in a deadly game.

It was new, it was different, but it was the same.

Because none of us wanted to forget. We didn't want to lose our memories of those we had lost, or the things that had happened. We couldn't forget the Games. We couldn't forget our friends. And we couldn't forget our sacrifices.

Peeta and I returned to the Victors Village, but moved into different houses. I couldn't stand living in the place where my sister used to live, where she used to laugh and smile. I just couldn't. And neither could Peeta.

Haymitch refused to live in the Victors Village at all. It had been his home for such a long time, but he said he didn't want to live with the constant reminder of his time in the arena. Now that he didn't have to live there, he moved. He did the opposite of me; I didn't want the memories of the Seam and my family, so I stayed away. He went back. He built himself - well, with help, but you know what I mean - a big house in the Seam. He wanted to remember the way everything was back before he left for the Capitol, before his life was changed forever. I thought it was bad for him; I thought he was trying to live a memory. Then Peeta explained it to me. He wasn't living in the past - he was making himself a new future.

Peeta and I tried the same. We got married. We settled down. We both did everything we could to distract ourselves. We helped with the cleanup and the building. Peeta reopened his bakery. I taught him how to hunt. We cared for children while their parents worked. We tried our best to get Haymitch out of his depression, for alcohol was scarce. But it was never enough.

So we tried to think of ways to remember. We couldn't forget, so why try?

First of all, we collected tapes of every single Hunger Games that has gone past. We didn't do this to remember the tributes; the person in the Games wasn't who the tributes really were. It was hard to stay yourself in the arena. It was so hard to not turn into a killing machine. No, we saved the tapes so that no-one would forget the horror of the games, so that, one day in the future, when some power hungry and sadistic President wanted more control over the people of Panem and wanted to bring the Games back, he could look at the tapes and be reminded how terrible they really were. We don't want the Games to become legend, or an idea viewed as a way to get the people at the governments feet. We want them to be remembered the way they are now, as a dark stain on the countries history that will never be removed, but never repeated.

But this only helped us remember the horror. We wanted to remember the good things as well.

It was Peeta who had the idea of the book. We needed a way to remember, and we couldn't rely on our memory. Human minds were to flimsy; we knew that better than anyone. Then, one day, when I was going though my family's old book of plants, Peeta had the idea of making a new book.

One full of memories.

We wrote the Capitol and ordered some materials, and as soon as they came we got started.

We spent ages on that book. We wrote about the people that we had known and had not made it through the war. We wrote about the people that were affected by the Capitol.

We didn't just write down names and birthdays and family members. We wrote about the person. About who they really were.

The way Rue's eyes lit up when she talked about her family.

The way my mother could make a man who was half dead live once more.

The way Peeta's father could make a wonderful cake out of next to nothing.

The way Cinna could make a grown man cry with a length of silk.

The way Portia could make even the ugliest person look amazing.

The way Wiress worked so hard to make us understand.

The way Mags taught me how to make a fish hook, and how happy she was when I succeeded.

The way Prim could make even the most depressed person smile.

We didn't just write about who a person was; we wrote about _who_ they were. We wrote about the important things.

When we told the others what we were doing, they all wanted to help. They sent pictures and told us about other people. Haymitch talked about the tributes he had mentored, and he talked about poor Maysilee Donner. Finnick told us about his family, and Annie hesitantly told us about her younger brother who had been murdered in an 'accident' set up by the Capitol. Beetee told us more about Wiress, who we hadn't really known. Johanna just wanted to share her memories of home.

We worked on it for a long time, and we never really finished it. Every so often there would be something else we would remember, the sparkle in Chaffs eyes or Foxface's cunning.

Thanks to the book, we never forgot, but we were able to move on.

I was okay, considering everything that had happened. I still got nightmares; I don't think they will ever go away. Sometimes I use Finnick's old rope trick, and stay up for several nights until I am so tired I just collapse. But Peeta helps. When he's there, the nightmares mostly stay away, but they never disappear completely. The most I'll ever manage without one is about three days. I'll get hopeful, wondering if maybe _this time_ they are gone, then they'll be back with a new vigor. After a few years I just learnt to accept that they will never leave. But that doesn't stop me from waking up screaming.

I still have nightmares about the execution, about that second arrow being placed into my hand. I tried to refuse; I didn't _want_ to kill Coin. Sure, I hated her. Sure, she was just as bad as Snow. Sure, I was a second away from killing Snow and would have done so if I hadn't needed him to goad Coin into making it was clear she was guilty. But Coin was different. She _was_ the leader of the rebels after all. She _had_ won us the war, even if her methods were horrific.

But still they made me do it. It was the sentence for Snow, and as they were being accused of the exact same crimes, the sentence was the same. It made sense, but that didn't stop me from trying to fight it. But I did it in the end, knowing that I couldn't get out of it. Paylor was sympathetic though.

I was glad she became President; I'm sure she'll do a good job. She was thinking about doing a vote for presidency and having different parties and stuff, just like the old days… it sounds like it has potential. Panem is becoming a democracy.

Things are getting better now. It has been several years since the end of the war. Peeta and I are doing well. Since the book, we've been able to move on and live our lives. We're still in our house at the Victors Village. But we aren't alone anymore.

There are two new additions to our family.

I'm watching them now. They're playing in the meadow where I used to play as a child with Prim and my father.

The girl dances around on her light feet, her black hair swinging around her face, framing her bright blue eyes. The boy, who has blond hair and grey eyes follows after her on fat little legs, struggling to keep up and occasionally tripping. When this happens, the girl leans down and pulls him back up, asking if he's okay. Then they both giggle and continue with their games.

They remind me so much of my past. Of my sister. They are so innocent, so pure, and yet I know that will have to end sometime.

The girl already knows about the Hunger Games. She has learnt about them in school. She knows that her parents played a part in them somehow, but I can tell she's loathe to ask. A bit of that innocence has already fallen away.

Even now, years later, the Capitol reaches out and poisons our lives.

I remember when Peeta first asked about children. He had known how much I didn't want them, how scared I was. I knew it was an irrational fear. Well, at least it was at the time. But that was what scared me; the fact that, only a few years earlier, that fear would have been a very rational fear indeed.

I did not want to have children, because the memory of the Games was still fresh in my mind. The memory of seeing mothers heartbroken and weeping after their children were reaped, seeing them empty and all but dead after they had been forced to watch those children ripped apart on the television screen. I never wanted to be a part of that.

I knew the Games were over, but I couldn't shake that feeling of dread. It had been a part of me for so long.

It hurt to see Peeta suffer though. He wanted them so much, but he wouldn't see me afraid. He didn't want me to be unhappy.

It took a while, but eventually my love for Peeta won out over my survival instinct, and I gave in.

I was still terrified. I was consumed by the fear when I felt her move inside me the first time. But Peeta got me through it. And when I held her, I knew that there was nothing in the world that I would have traded for her. Because nothing could take me away from her, and if anybody tried, the Mockingjay would come back in full force.

The Mockingjay. It had been such a long time since I last wore my Mockingjay armor – the day of the execution. And yet people still knew me as the Mockingjay. Even the children that ran about the streets, who had no idea what it had been like. They all knew me as the woman who stopped the war and prevented the wrong person from gaining power. The woman who stopped history from repeating itself.

Because it would have done. The war would have been labeled as the 'New Dark Days' or the 'Second Dark Days'. The Hunger Games would have continued. The only difference, like I had told Coin, would have been that the people were in different positions.

These days, everybody was more equal. The people in the Capitol were given less, and those in the Districts were given more. There were no longer starving children in every District, forced to watch the rich, fat people of the Capitol parade around on the T.V. Everyone was an equal.

Now, the children run about and play games on the street. Some of them play war games, with each child having their own role; Snow, the evil president in the beginning; Coin, the witch who tried to take over the world; and Katniss and Peeta, the two people to save the universe.

It hurts a little, to see the children making such a serious thing into a game.

But not as much as it hurt, all those years ago, to see the Capitol turn the idea of children murdering each other into a competition.

They may be playing war games, but at least they are not dying.

The children are safe.

And that is all I could hope to ask for.

* * *

**Wow, amazing! It's finished! And in only half a year, too! I know it was pretty much the same ending as Mockingjay, but hey, the story was different enough right? (in parts at least...) Anyway, I would like to thank you all for reading! Whether you stuck with me from the begining or whether you just found the story. This was my first fic, and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. It seems like several people enjoyed it!**

**And thanks for all the reviews, too! They kept me writing. **

**Until next time!**

**~ Nightlock**


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